


Messrs Moony, Wormtail, Padfoot, and Prongs

by NyxieSilverfire



Series: Mischief Managed [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Friendship, Marauders Friendship, Multi, Nothing severe though., Varying levels of bullying
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-14
Updated: 2017-05-27
Packaged: 2018-10-18 22:49:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 20
Words: 33,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10626765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NyxieSilverfire/pseuds/NyxieSilverfire
Summary: James Potter's first school year. How he met and befriended the other Marauders. How he met Lily. All that stuff.





	1. Introductions on a Train

**Author's Note:**

> So a few things. I'm American and I have never seen much of where this story actually takes place so I won't be doing a lot of environment description because I'll probably get it wrong if I tried. I'm also not sticking directly to the canon accounts of what happened while the Marauders were in school but I am using it as inspiration. I'm also inspired by head-canons that I have seen/heard from various places including my friends, my siblings and Mom, and my perusing of Tumblr.

James walked down the center of the train, looking for an empty, or at least mostly empty, car to sit in. He smiled and waved to anyone that saw him. He finally found a mostly empty car close to the back. It had a single boy around his own age sitting by the window. He grinned and opened the door, “Hey, I'm James. Mind if I sit?”

The boy looked up and nodded, “Yeah, go ahead.”

James sat down across from him. He looked out the window, “I always thought it was cool to watch the environment fly past.”

“Really?”

James nodded. He glanced at the kid across from him, “What's your name?”

“Sirius.”

James grinned suddenly, “Are you joking?”

Sirius smirked, “I'm completely Sirius.”

The two of them laughed. They told jokes to each other for the rest of the train ride. It was dark by the time they reached Hogwarts. The castle was large and intimidating.

James cocked his head to the side, “I wonder how much time they give students to get to class.”

Sirius shrugged, “I don't know. Hopefully long enough that we won't have to run if we end up with classes on the opposite sides of the castle.”

James nodded. He climbed onto the cute little boat that would take them to the castle first. Sirius followed. James did not refrain from continuing their joke war simply because they had company. He also quickly noticed the boy sitting at the front of the boat trying hard not to laugh. He glanced at Sirius and motioned to the kid. “Think we can make him laugh out loud,” he whispered.

Sirius studied the kid and shrugged, “We can try!”

James nodded. The two of them made it their goal to make the other kid laugh. They had almost succeeded when it was time for them to offload from the boat. They were led all the way through the castle quickly. James pouted since they wouldn't be able to explore the castle one their first day. He complained to Sirius.

Sirius nodded, “Yeah, it kinda sucks.”

James sighed, “We could always explore later, I guess. But imagine how much fun it would be to play hide and seek in this place.”

Sirius grinned, “That would be GREAT!”

James nodded excitedly, “I'm sure we can get whatever house we're sorted into to join us.”

Sirius nodded but remained silent.

James pretended to overlook it but changed the subject slightly, “I wonder if the paintings on the walls would be willing to play. It would be pretty fun trying to find them I think.”

Sirius nodded, “Yeah. We'd have to find them in other paintings. It would be the ultimate perception game!”

James grinned, “Yeah!”

All of the students fell silent as a relatively intimidating older woman dressed in green walked up to them.

James and Sirius exchanged glances before turning their attention to her.

“I am Professor Mcgonagall.” the woman nodded quite calmly in welcome.

“Hi Professor!” James yelled out.

Sirius waved.

Mcgonagall raised an eyebrow but continued like they hadn't spoken, “The start-of-term banquet will begin shortly, but before you take your seats in the Great Hall you will be sorted into your houses. The Sorting is a very important ceremony because while you are here your house will be something like your family within Hogwarts. You will have classes with the rest of your house and sleep in your house dormitory, and spend free time in your house common room.

“The four houses are called Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, and Slytherin.”

Sirius shifted uncomfortably.

James grinned excitedly and whispered, “I can't wait!”

Sirius nodded, “Yeah.” His voice was low and kind of flat.

James gave him a worried look before turning his attention back to Mcgonagall.

“Each house has its own noble history and each has produced outstanding witches and wizards. While you are at Hogwarts, your triumphs will earn your house points, while any rule-breaking will lose house points. At the end of the year, the house with the most points is awarded the house cup, a great honor. I hope each of you will be a credit to whichever house becomes yours.

“The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school. I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you are waiting.”

She scanned the group of kids in front of her. Most of them appeared nervous. However, one stuck out to her as being purely excited with no trace of anxiety in him. A small smile tugged at her lips but she refused to allow it to form fully. “I shall return when we are ready for you. Please wait quietly.” She turned and walked away. Her emerald robes flowed around her.

James grinned, “I can't wait. I wonder what house we'll be sorted into.”

“I doubt it'll be as exciting as you think it will be,” Sirius said somewhat sourly.

James refused to be crushed. He tried to cheer his friend up, “C'mon. It can't be that bad.”

Sirius gave him an incredulous look, “I think it can be.”

James shook his head, “Even if we're sorted into different houses, we don't have to stop being friends.”

Sirius sighed, “We won't be able to be close friends.”

“Sure we will!” James insisted.

Sirius stopped arguing but didn't look like he felt any better.

James sighed, “Are you joking?”

Sirius smirked, “No. I'm completely Sirius.”

The two burst out laughing just as Mcgonagall returned.

She raised an eyebrow but didn't order their silence, “Now. Form a line and follow me.”

James jumped and stared at her in surprise.

Sirius started laughing harder.

James pouted royally, “Shut up, Sirius. It wasn't that funny.”

“Your face!” Sirius gasped.

James sighed, “Yeah. Yeah. Go ahead and laugh at me. I see how it is.”

“C'mon,” Sirius grinned, “Even I can't be Sirius all the time.”

The two burst out laughing again.

The first years were lead between two tables down the middle of the hall. A dirty old hat sat on a stool at the top of a short series of steps. All of the instructors sat at a long table that ran perpendicular to the students tables behind the stool. A podium stood in the exact center just in front of the professors' table. The stool sat just to the side of the podium.

“The Sorting Hat is that old dirty thing?” James whispered.

“I was kind of expecting a fancy top hat,” Sirius admitted.

“A top hat? Why a top hat?” James asked curiously.

“Because it's fancy. You know, befitting a hat for a super important ceremony,” Sirius shrugged.

James nodded, “Alright. I'm not sure what kind of hat I was thinking but I definitely expected it to have more embellishments.”

Sirius nodded, “Yeah. I agree. Maybe some golden lining and some gemstones.”

“And the hat itself is black or dark blue or purple or something,” James added.

“Yeah,” Sirius agreed.

“James Potter,” Professor Mcgonagall said firmly.

James looked up, “Huh? Yeah?”

Sirius snickered.

James shrugged at him before walking up to Mcgonagall. She motioned towards the stool and he sat down. The hat was quiet for many moments. It smelled like old leather and dirt. James sighed. It was going to take forever to get the smell of the hat out of his hair.

“Gryffindor!” The hat yelled out after another few seconds of thought.

James grinned, “Cool.” He skipped down the steps and sat down rather flamboyantly at the Gryffindor table.

“Sirius Black,” Mcgonagall said.

James watched his new friend excitedly, curious to see what house he would be sorted into.

The hat was silent for a very long time before mumbling quietly. No one really understood what it was saying.

James started to tap his fingers on the table impatiently. He shifted three or four times before the hat finally spoke.

“Gryffindor!”

James grinned and instantly slid over a little so his friend could sit next to him, “We are in the same house after all!”

Sirius nodded, “Yeah.” He looked shaken and stunned.

James shrugged and let his friend sit next to him.

“Peter Pettigrew.”

“Hey, its the kid from the boat!” James whispered.

Sirius nodded, “It is. I wonder what house he'll be in.”

“I don't know,” James shrugged.

The hat deliberated for a moment before calling out Gryffindor.

“That's three in a row,” James smirked. He waved to the kid and had him sit across from them, “I'm James by the way. You laughing on the boat!”

The kid instantly turned red, “P-Peter. I didn't mean to laugh. I was just-”

“It's alright!” James insisted.

“We were trying to get you to laugh,” Sirius explained.

“O-Oh,” Peter nodded. He quickly sat down and looked around. He looked very worried and almost afraid.

James looked from Peter to Sirius and back again. He nodded to himself and decided he would be friends with them. They both looked like they could use a good friend. He stopped paying attention to the sorting ceremony and starting drawing random shapes on the table with his finger. He was quickly getting bored.

“Hey.”

James looked up, “Huh?”

Sirius pointed to a pretty redheaded girl walking towards the Gryffindor table, “She was just sorted into Gryffindor.”

James nodded, “Alright.” He welcomed her to the table, “Hi. I'm James.”

“Lily,” she responded

James smiled, “It should be a fun year, right?”

Lily shrugged.

Peter nodded, though he looked uncertain.

Sirius was paying more attention to the ceremony than he was to James.

James sulked and went back to drawing shapes with his fingers.


	2. House Mis...placement...Displacement?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Most of the untagged dialogue is Remus but he didn't get the chance to introduce himself so I just left it without a tag.

That night Sirius was sitting on his bed looking very stiff and uncomfortable. James sat on the bed next to him and watched the other boys unpack their things in silence for a while. He looked at his friend, “What's the matter?”  
Sirius looked at him before quickly looking away, “It's nothing.”  
James laid down on his back, “For being nothing it sure seems like a lot of something. You haven't really smiled or laughed since you were sorted.”  
Sirius studied him for a moment before relenting, “My parents are going to be very angry at me.”  
“Why?” James asked in confusion.  
Sirius sighed, “My entire family is Slytherin. I need to be in Slytherin too.” He started to tug at the edge of his shirt, “Otherwise I'm a disgrace.”  
James nodded, “Alright. I'm sure there's someone we can talk to about house mis...placement...displacement?” He shook his head, having obviously confused himself, “Being put in the wrong house.”  
Sirius looked at him in surprise, “But I thought you wanted us to be in the same house.  
James shrugged, “What I want for you doesn't really matter because it's you. Not me.” He got to his feet and looked around, “Hey, lets ask that guy. It looks like he's still up.”  
Sirius followed James' gaze and shrugged, “I guess.”  
James skipped up to the boy that was huddled up on his bed in an oversized sweater reading a book. He waved at him to get his attention, “Hey. I'm James. I was wondering if you knew who we could talk about being placed in the wrong house!”  
The kid looked from James to Sirius in surprise and then shrugged and shook his head. In a soft quiet voice he said, “I don't know. I'm sorry.” His medium brown hair was tucked behind his ears to keep it out of his face.  
James nodded, “Alright. Wanna help us find somebody that does know?” James didn't give the kid much of a choice. He dragged Sirius and the other kid over to where Peter seemed to just be getting comfortable. James waved at him, “Hey, Peter, sorry to interrupt when you look so comfortable but do you know who we can talk to about being placed in the wrong house?”  
Peter sat up and rubbed his eyes. He looked thoughtful before responding, “Well...I think Professor Mcgonagall is the head of Gryffindor house. You could try talking to her.”  
James nodded, “Let's go find Professor Mcgonagall!”  
Peter looked amazed and pointed to himself, “Me?”  
James nodded, “All four of us!”  
“Um-”  
“C'mon!” James started to lead the way towards the door.  
“Hold on!” The kid they had talked to first stood quite still stubbornly, “We're not allowed out of the dorm after curfew. And it is long past curfew.”  
James paused. He grinned suddenly, “Sure we are. We just can't get caught.” He went to his bed and, after a couple minutes of rummaging, pulled a large sheet of cloth out of the depths of his bag.  
“Is that…?” Peter gawked at him in amazement.  
“What?” James asked curiously.  
“An invisibility cloak?!” Peter squeaked.  
James nodded, “Yeah. It's mine.”  
The other kid looked incredibly anxious and uncertain, “I'm sure the professors and Prefects here know how to see through invisibility.”  
James shrugged, “We'll see I guess.” He grabbed the edges of the cloak as far out as his arms would stretch and held it open, “Everybody under the cloak!”  
Peter scampered over to him almost instantly, “Can I...touch it?”  
“Sure,” James nodded.  
Peter tentatively touched the cloth, “It's really soft?”  
James nodded, “It's quite comfortable.” He looked expectantly at Sirius and the other kid, “C'mon. We need to find Professor Mcgonagall.”  
Sirius shrugged and joined the other two. He also touched the cloak.  
The other kid sighed in resignation and walked up to the group.  
James made sure the cloak covered everybody before opening the door. He led the way down the stairs. Almost instantly the group erupted into giggles and muffled ow's as they stepped on each other's feet trying to get down the stairs without losing the cloak. They managed to make it out of the common room.  
After wandering through the halls of Hogwarts, going up and down stairs, cursing and giggling, Sirius paused, “Guys, where is Mcgonagall's office anyway?”  
“Where the hell are we anyway?” James asked.  
“James, language.”  
James stuck his tongue out at the kid before looking around.  
They wandered through more halls and up and down the moving stair cases for a while longer. They finally came to a stop in the middle of a long wide hallway. There were no paintings on the wall of this hallway and it seemed to stretch on forever. On one side it opened into a courtyard.  
“Hey, a courtyard.”  
“We probably shouldn't go outside.”  
James sighed, “And we are trying to find Mcgonagall after all.” He led the way down the hall and up more stairs. “Sirius, your stepping on my heels!” James hissed.  
“Sorry,” Sirius muttered.  
“What are we going to do if we can't find Mcgonagall before morning?”  
“Cry?” Sirius suggested.  
“Panic?” James added.  
“Die,” Peter stated confidently.  
Their companion sighed, “It's hot under this thing.”  
The group continued on.  
“I think someone's coming,” Peter whispered.  
Everyone grew quite tense. James led them over to the nearest wall where they pressed themselves against it.  
“They won't know if we strike weird poses since we're under the cloak right?” Sirius asked.  
James grinned, “That's a great idea! Everybody strike a weird pose and then try not to laugh when they pass by!”  
James and Sirius struck the most ridiculous poses they could think of. Peter held his hands by his face and did his best scary expression. The fourth one simply stuck out his tongue. He leaned against the wall rather calmly.  
Professor Mcgonagall walked around the corner.  
James grinned and fumbled out from under the cloak, “It's Professor Mcgonagall!” He walked up to her, “Professor!”  
The other three stumbled after him as he tried to drag the cloak off them. He wrapped the cloak around his arm while Sirius tried desperately to fix his hair.  
Mcgonagall studied them disapprovingly, “What are you four doing up?”  
“Well we wanted to-” James started.  
“It can wait till morning,” Sirius interrupted.  
James stopped, his mouth still hanging open. He slowly turned to Sirius, “What are we doing then?” He turned back to Mcgonagall and grinned sheepishly, “Uh...yeah.”  
Mcgonagall sighed, “Since today is your very first day here, as long as return to your dormitory until morning and promise me you will not pull something like this again then I will excuse it this once.”  
James nodded, “Yes Ma'am!”  
The other three nodded quickly as well.  
“Also, uh, Professor,” James looked around, “How do we get back to our dormitory exactly?”  
Mcgonagall sighed, “Follow me.” She led the four of them back to the Gryffindor common room. The four of them hurried up the stairs.  
“I thought you wanted to change houses?” James asked Sirius in confusion once the door closed behind them.  
Sirius shrugged, “I just thought, maybe I wanted to be with you guys a little bit more. I don't know. Running around under the invisibility cloak was fun.”  
James shrugged, “Alright!”  
“We should sleep. We only have a few hours before morning.”  
James nodded, “Good night!” He flopped onto his bed and was almost instantly asleep, partly wrapped up in his cloak.  
Peter fell asleep almost as quickly.  
Sirius sat up for a little while and he couldn't stop smiling. It really had been fun running around with the other three. Finally he calmed down enough that he could sleep and it washed over him in a sudden wave.


	3. Puns and Games

“James! Wake up!”

“I don' wanna!” James mumbled.

“James!”

James blinked open his eyes, “Hey it's you!” He grinned but after a moment looked confused, “Did you tell us your name last night?”

“I'm Remus,” he sighed. He tossed James' robes at him, “And we're going to be late to class if you and Sirius don't hurry up.” He looked over his shoulder at where Peter was attempting to shake Sirius awake.

Peter shook his head and shrugged.

Remus sighed, “I'm going to class.”

“Wait!” James tripped over himself and face-planted into the floor trying to get out of bed, “We have to get Sirius up first.”

“And we need to get dressed,” Peter added.

Remus sighed in resignation, “Alright. Alright.” He leaned against his bedpost and waited relatively impatiently for the others.

James tried to get Sirius up in a myriad of ways, including relatively violent poking and hanging upside down from the bed frame. Remus and Peter told James he was going to fall and hurt himself or Sirius or both but the obstinate kid continued his attempts anyway. As predicted he fell off the bed frame and landed on Sirius' back. Sirius was awake pretty quickly with that.

James triumphantly declared that Sirius was awake and then muttered an ow and a few curses before climbing off of his bed. He grabbed his robes and hurriedly put them on.

Sirius managed to flawlessly tie his tie in a manner of moments while both James and Peter fumbled with theirs.

James stared at Sirius, “How did you do that?!” He looked at Remus, “How did he do that so easily?!”

Sirius laughed at him, “It's cause I'm...Sirius about my craft.”

“Really?” Remus groaned. He helped Peter tie his tie while Sirius helped James.

Sirius nodded, “Dead Sirius.”

The puns and jokes continued all the way to class, leaving all four of them giggling and unable to breath. All four of them fell silent however when the entered the class to find Mcgonagall standing in the center of the room looking displeased.

Remus swallowed nervously.

“Hi Professor!” James grinned, seemingly oblivious to the amount of trouble he was in.

Sirius followed suit, waving cheerfully at Mcgonagall.

Peter shifted so he was standing slightly behind James and Sirius as opposed to next to them.

Mcgonagall walked up to them and stopped in front of them, “Would you four like to explain why you are late?”

“We accidentally slept too much,” James declared confidently.

Mcgonagall raised an eyebrow, “Do you need an alarm then? To get you up on time?”

The four of them exchanged glances before shaking their heads.

“No, Ma'am,” Remus responded nervously.

“Then I expect you four to be on time from now on,” Mcgonagall nodded to where the other students were sitting, “Sit. And pay attention for the rest of class.”

“Yes Ma'am,” Remus nodded.

The other three followed suit. They found their seats quietly. James sat next to a pretty redhead, “Hi. Lily right?”

She nodded, “Yes.”

“Cool,” James nodded. He continued to try to talk to her but gave up quickly. She ignored him in favor of paying attention. She told him they could talk later, after class. He quickly got bored and started drawings shapes on the table with his fingers.

Class finally ended and James got to his feet and hurried over to his friends, “It felt like class would never end!”

“Lucky you this is just the first one,” Remus commented.

James whined, “Man.” He noticed Lily waiting patiently beside a Slytherin kid he didn't know. He glanced at his friends, “Who's that?”

“Miss Evans?” Sirius asked.

“No. I know her name. Who's the other kid?”

Peter shrugged, “I don't know.”

“If I remember the Sorting Ceremony correctly his name is Severus Snape,” Remus responded, “Why?”

James shrugged, “He just looks weird.”

“Weird? How?” Remus asked.

James shrugged. He turned around, “Let's try to survive our next class.” He led the way through the halls of the castle. He grinned suddenly, “Oh yeah! We should find some time to play hide and seek. With our house. With the paintings. Something.”

“Hide and seek?” Peter repeated curiously.

James nodded, “Imagine how much fun it would be! I mean the castle is HUGE. There are plenty of places to hide.”

“I'm not sure when we'd find the time,” Remus commented, “With classes and then the work and studying we'd have to do after class. Then the evening meal and curfew. I don't think there would be time.”

“Who said we had to study?” James asked. He was pretty disgusted by the idea of replacing his fun time with something as dull as studying.

Remus sighed, “You don't really have to. It's just advisable.”

James stuck his tongue out. He grinned suddenly, “So while I was sitting bored out of my mind in class, I was thinking! We could play a game. It'd be a harmless little game of tag. And we can play it whenever because it's not like it's that disruptive!”

Remus studied him carefully, “I'm pretty sure a game of tag would be disruptive.”

“Not if we do it secretly,” Sirius argued.

Remus sighed, “Fine.”

James grinned and poked Remus, “You're it.”

Remus laughed and shook his head, “Alright.”

The other three instantly squeaked and scattered when Remus lurched forward. Remus decided to go after Sirius and chased him through the halls towards their next class. The four of them clambered into the next class like a herd of elephants, giggling and laughing and shrieking, trying to avoid Remus. They were quickly berated and told to quietly take a seat by the professor. 

Remus tagged Sirius as he walked past him, “You're it.”

Sirius tried to get him back but missed and cursed.

Remus shook his head, “Language, Sirius.”

Sirius stuck his tongue out at him. He tagged James on their way out of class and the four of them raced out the doors and to their next class. 

They tagged each other during class, coming up with excuses to pass by their chosen target. They played the game constantly. It was always a competition and they were always the first ones out of class. Remarkably it also ensured they were always, always, always on time.

The four of them got very adept at squeezing and maneuvering through crowds. Though James and Sirius especially had a tendency to shove people as well.

Nearly every day for three weeks the four of them got detention for being disruptive during class but that didn't stop them from continuing their game.


	4. Operation Skyreacher

“Hey, where's Remus?” James asked tiredly, “He's usually the one that gets us up.”  
Peter shrugged, “I don't think he came to bed last night.”  
“Maybe he's been kidnapped by vampires!” Sirius suggested dramatically, “We must rescue our friend!”  
James and Peter burst out laughing. Sirius quickly followed suit. James shrugged, “I'm sure he'll be in class.”  
Peter and Sirius nodded.  
Peter held up two packages of cookies, “I...borrowed these from the kitchen.”  
James looked surprised, “Thanks Peter.”  
Sirius looked the package over, “I don't think I've had these before.”  
James looked at Peter, “Do you have some too?”  
Peter nodded and held up his package.  
Sirius helped his two friends tie their ties before the three of them started to make their way to class. It wasn't nearly as exciting as it had been for the past few weeks because Remus was it and he wasn't there.  
The three waited impatiently through their first class, getting increasingly agitated and worried. After class the three of the gathered outside. James looked confused, “Remus would never miss class. We know he wouldn't.”  
“But...he just did,” Peter pointed out.  
James nodded, “I know! That's what's scary. I'm sure Remus is fine but...”  
“You're not sure he's fine,” Sirius finished bluntly.  
“No, I'm sure he's fine,” James insisted, “I'm just worried. We're going to investigate!”  
Sirius nodded, “Alright!”  
Peter agreed, “What are we gonna call the investigation though?”  
James and Sirius exchanged glances. James paused thoughtfully, “We're going to call it Operation...”  
“Find Remus?” Peter suggested.  
“That's too obvious,” Sirius shook his head, “It should be something more obscure so that no one knows.”  
“Oh, okay,” Peter nodded, “Operation...”  
“Operation...” James started to scrape the ground with his right foot.  
“Operation...” Sirius looked up at the sky before gasping. He jumped up and slammed his left fist into his right hand, “That's it! We'll call it Operation Skyreacher!”  
“Skyreacher?” Peter repeated in confusion.  
“Because Remus is always getting good grades! He's always reaching for the sky!” James nodded, “Genius!”  
Peter nodded excitedly, “That makes a lot of sense!”  
The three of them nodded to each other. James called out, “Operation Skyreacher! Commence!”  
“Yeah!” Peter yelled.  
“Let's go!” Sirius nodded.  
James grinned, “We'll start by checking the common room. See if maybe he came back while we were in class.”  
“We should also check the infirmary and see if maybe he's sick or something,” Peter added.  
“And then we'll just scour the rest of the grounds for him,” Sirius finished.  
James nodded, “Let's go!”   
The three of them hurried to through the halls towards the Gryffindor common room and the dormitories. The searched it top to bottom, even searching places where Remus would not be able to realistically hide. They searched in dresser drawers and under pillows and chair cushions. They searched in closets and under beds and under tables. They searched in the portraits and asked the Fat Lady if she had seen Remus. She initially scolds them for not being in class but once she finds out they're trying to find Remus she agrees to help them.  
Remus wasn't there. The Fat Lady promised to keep an eye out for Remus.  
The three friends moved on to the infirmary. Madam Pomfrey scolded the three of them for being outside of school and informed them that Remus had yet to check into the infirmary at all so far. The three of them promised her they'd go to class and stop worrying about their friend.  
Naturally though, they continued to search for him. They turned to scouring the entire Hogwarts grounds, using James' invisibility cloak to keep from getting caught.  
“Sirius, you are stepping on my heels again!” James hissed.  
“I'm sorry! Your strides are short,” Sirius responded.  
James sighed, “Alright. We need to be quiet so that we're not caught.”  
“Right,” Sirius nodded.  
Peter hadn't said a word and continued to remain silent.   
The three of them searched everywhere. They did their very best not to miss a single nook or cranny. Of course they couldn't enter another house's common room but neither could Remus so they didn't bother. Despite how much they searched they couldn't find their friend though. And despite their best efforts they were too loud not to be caught. They were now standing in Dumbledore's office, having missed an entire day's worth of classes with a very very disapproving Professor Mcgonagall pacing behind them.  
“We were worried,” James explained quickly, “And we still can't find Remus!”  
Sirius and Peter nodded quickly.  
“We understand your concern for your friend, but that does not, under any circumstances, permit you to skip an entire day's worth of classes!” Mcgonagall chided.  
Peter looked terrified of her.  
James however continued to argue, “But Remus would never miss class, Professor!” They had been arguing back and forth for almost twenty minutes now.  
At this point even Sirius was looking from his friend to Mcgonagall like he was worried the professor would turn his friend into something strange and frightening with a single look.  
“You aren't listening to me!” James yelled angrily, “Remus. Isn't. Here.”  
“We are perfectly aware of that, Mr. Potter. The fact that we do not agree with your actions does not mean we are not listening to what you have to say,” Mcgonagall said firmly, “And we are also certain that Remus Lupin is safe and sound. His current whereabouts are none of your concern.”  
“He's our friend!” James insisted.  
“Now, now,” Dumbledore finally intervened.  
Peter and Sirius visibly relaxed.  
Mcgonagall took fifty points from Gryffindor before allowing Dumbledore to take over the conversation.  
James wasn't any more inclined to simply sit back and listen to Dumbledore than he was Mcgonagall. His insistence on arguing with the headmaster left Sirius and Peter worried and quiet. Dumbledore managed to keep heads calm however and sent the three of them to the Gryffindor dormitory.  
Peter very obviously relaxed when they left Dumbledore's office.  
Sirius stared at James, “Holy crap! We were worried but did you have to argue with Dumbledore?!”  
“He wasn't listening to me!” James insisted.  
“He's Albus Dumbledore,” Peter whimpered, “I can't believe you argued with Albus Dumbledore!” He stared at James in mixed amazement and horror, “You argued with Albus Dumbledore?!”  
“He wasn't listening to me!” James insisted more vehemently, “And we still haven't found Remus.”  
“Maybe he's back in the common room?” Sirius suggested.  
“I hope so,” Peter whispered worriedly.  
James stormed towards the common room, “He better be! Otherwise, I don't care what the professors say. We're finding our friend. He can't just disappear like that.”  
Sirius and Peter exchanged glances before agreeing.  
“Operation Skyreacher isn't over until Remus is found safe and sound,” Sirius said confidently.  
James smiled and nodded, “Exactly.” He turned back into an over protective bundle of rage, “And if either of you disappear like this on the rest of us I'm going to hunt you down just the same!”  
Sirius grinned, “So you take your friendships very Sirius-ly huh?”  
James and Peter cracked up laughing.  
Peter grinned, “We'll have to tell Remus all about this when we do find him.”  
James nodded, “He'll be sad he missed out.”  
Sirius agreed.  
The three of them arrived in the common room to find Remus not present. And the Fat Lady told them she hadn't seen Remus all day. But Mcgonagall had assured her that the boy was fine. James sat by the window and stared out at the forest that surrounded the castle. Suddenly he leaped to his feet, “We never checked the forest!”  
“Can we do it tomorrow?” Peter was exhausted after the long day running around.  
James sighed, “Yeah. We can do it tomorrow.”  
The three of them went to sleep. It had only been a few weeks but it already felt weird for there to not be four of them. For the three that slept in the dorm sleep was fleeting and hard to keep.


	5. Remus Returns

“Remus!” James crossed the room in a single bound and practically fell onto his friend's bed, “You're okay!”  
Remus shrugged, “Yeah. I'm…I'm fine.”  
“You look exhausted,” Sirius observed.  
Peter held out a pack of crackers, “Do you want a snack?”  
Remus took the crackers and shrugged, “I'm used to it by now.”  
James looked relieved, “We spent all of yesterday looking for you and we were gonna do it again today. But since you're here and...well...exhausted, but okay we don't have to go out to the forest to try to find you.”  
Remus stared at him, “You were going to go out to the forest?! Do you have any idea how dangerous that place is?!”  
“We have an invisibility cloak,” Sirius insisted.  
“An invisibility cloak isn't going to cover your scent,” Remus hissed angrily. His eyes were narrowed to slits and his eyes were dark.  
The other three exchanged glances. It was obvious none of them had considered that little detail.  
“Oh,” James whispered.  
“We didn't think about that,” Sirius admitted.  
“That much is obvious,” Remus retorted. He sighed and continued much more gently, “You three need to get to class before you're late.” He tagged Sirius, “You're it.” He watched as Sirius chased the other two out of the room before curling up very tightly, pulling his knees up close to his chest, and stared out the window.  
“Remus seemed really mad,” Peter mumbled. He looked at James and Sirius, “Did we do something wrong?”  
“Well, we did get in a lot of trouble yesterday,” Sirius shrugged. He paused, “He seemed a little more angry that we would try to go into the forest than that we skipped class to try and find him though.”  
James remained thoughtfully silent. The tag game didn't continue that morning and the group was oddly silent throughout their first class. James finally spoke after their first class, “Don't you think it's a bit odd that he would get so angry? Remus usually isn't like that.”  
“It was kinda dark for him, but he's a worry wart,” Sirius shrugged, “He probably doesn't want us to get hurt trying to find him when he's fine.”  
“Hm.” James scraped the ground with his foot, “Maybe. I think...I think there's more to it than that. I don't know. I may be reading too much into it but that anger seemed so unlike him.”  
“We've only known him for a few weeks, James,” Sirius shrugged, “We don't know what he's really like yet. We don't know what any of us are really like yet.”  
James shrugged, “We should check up on Remus at lunch though. Make sure he's still okay.”  
Sirius nodded, “Make sure he's not taking himself so Sirius-ly.”  
James and Peter started laughing. James nodded, “Yeah. And fill him in everything that happened yesterday.”  
“And make sure he smiles some time today!” Peter added.  
James grinned and nodded, “Yeah!”  
“And make sure he remembers why he hates to love us,” Sirius smirked.  
James nodded, “Yes!”  
Sirius tagged James, “You're it!” He and Peter darted away.  
James cursed, “Alright! You caught me off guard this time. But it won't happen again!” He darted after them, dodging around Miss Evans and her Slytherin friend. He chased his friends down the hall.  
Lily knelt down to pick up the books James had knocked out of her arms with a sigh.  
Severus helped her, handing her textbook to her, “Are you okay?”  
“I'm fine,” Lily nodded, “Let's hurry up. We're gonna be late.”  
Severus nodded, “Yeah.” He followed her down the hall.  
Sirius and Peter scrambled into the next class and raced for their seats. James was right behind them and almost got Peter. He barely missed.  
James led the way to the Gryffindor common room. They found Remus sitting by the window in a really big sweater, like the first time they had talked to him.  
James and Peter pulled the invisibility cloak off of Sirius, who was holding a plate full of food from the Great Hall.  
“We brought you lunch,” Peter declared proudly.  
“You guys smuggled that out of the Great Hall?” Remus sounded both impressed and disapproving at the same time.  
James nodded, “Yep!” He grinned, “And we managed not to get the cloak dirty!”  
“And I have snacks,” Peter added.  
Remus laughed, “Alright.”  
“And we wanted to update you one what you missed yesterday,” James nodded.  
“We skipped most of our classes to try to find you,” Sirius admitted.  
Remus raised an eyebrow, “I'm assuming you got in trouble.”  
“Eventually,” James nodded.  
“He fought with Mcgonagall and Dumbledore!” Peter squeaked.  
“They weren't listening to me!” James insisted.  
“That doesn't make you any less crazy,” Sirius muttered.  
“And you didn't get kicked out?” Remus asked in surprise.  
James shook his head, “Why would they kick me out?”  
Remus sighed, “Disrespect. Skipping a whole day's worth of classes. Defiance. Sneaking around under an invisibility cloak that you weren't permitted to have to begin with.”  
James shrugged, “Well they didn't.” He grinned, “You missed some of the best jokes.”  
“And we couldn't play tag because you were it and you weren't here,” Peter added.  
“Sorry about that,” Remus apologized. He glanced at Peter's bed, “You wouldn't happen to have any more of those crackers would you?”  
Peter nodded, “Of course I do!” He went over to his bed and pulled a misshapen handmade box out from under. He opened the box and pulled out all of the chocolate frog cards. He then pulled out the bottom of the box and revealed a giant cache of snacks.  
“So that's where you keep getting the snacks from,” James whistled.  
“How long has that box had a false bottom?” Sirius asked.  
Peter laughed nervously, “I added it because I get hungry at weird times but we can only really eat at the designated meal times most of the time.” He grabbed another package of crackers and gave it over to Remus, “Here you go.” He replaced the false bottom and put the cards back into the box before closing it and sliding it back under his bed.  
James whistled again, “Nice.”  
Sirius laughed, “To be honest I wouldn't have expected Peter of all people to be the one to have a false bottom in his box for food.”  
Peter turned bright red, “Well...yeah.”  
“You guys should start heading to class soon,” Remus suggested, “I'm tired and you guys don't need to be late after what you did yesterday.”  
“There's still twenty minutes,” James insisted.  
Sirius whined like a dog.  
“I said soon!” Remus rolled his eyes and shook his head, “You would think I told you you couldn't ever do anything fun again.”  
James and Sirius whined loudly. They proceeded to turn it into a competition of who could whine the loudest and most annoying whine.  
Remus laid down on his bed and put his pillow over his head.  
Peter laughed.  
By the end of it they had added holding the whine for as long as possible and getting progressively louder until they were screaming at each other. They weren't even whining anymore.  
“GET TO CLASS!!” Remus yelled after fifteen minutes had gone by and they hadn't stopped. Peter was laughing so hard he couldn't breath and James and Sirius hadn't even held their screams for a minute at the longest.  
James and Sirius burst out laughing.  
The three of them scrambled out of the room when Remus chased them.  
James grinned, “So. I was thinking. You know what would be a great prank!”  
“What?” Sirius and Peter asked in unison.  
“We hang out just inside the common room door under the invisibility cloak and scare people as they walk in!” James declared.  
“That would be fun!” Sirius nodded.  
“And we can make funny faces at people that they'll never see as they walk by,” Peter added  
“Yeah!” James nodded.  
“But we can't laugh because it'll kill the moment,” Sirius added.  
James and Peter agreed excitedly.  
“And we can include Remus when he's feeling better,” James added.  
The three of them skipped to class with mischievous Cheshire cat grins on their faces.  
Remus was sound asleep when the three of them got back to the common room after their afternoon classes. They decided to tell Remus of their genius prank plans when he woke up.


	6. Making Their First Potion

James giggled in excited anticipation. They had left their last class early to get to the common room and get everything set up. Now they stood to the left of the door into the common room wrapped in an invisibility cloak. He had been somewhat surprised that Remus had helped them plan the prank. And how much planning actually went into a successful prank. But now that everything was ready they waited in tense excitement. They had moved the furniture so that no one would get hurt when they got startled. Unless they fell over but it wasn't like the four of them could move the floor.  
They screeched in the most terrifying way they could think of when the door opened. A couple of third years shrieked and stumbled back out the door. One of them let out a string of curses.  
The four of them broke and started giggling and laughing uproariously.  
The third year cursed again and shook his head, “I swear.”  
Sirius whined, “We failed! First one and we started laughing!”  
“But they literally fell out of the room!” James yelled.  
The four of them struggled out from under the cloak, still laughing.  
The third year sent the cackling first years up to their dorm room with an amused shake of his head.  
“We only managed to do it once!” Sirius complained.  
“They literally fell out of the common room though,” James laughed.  
The four of them burst out laughing again.  
The next morning Remus attempted, yet again, the teach James and Peter how to tie their ties. James gave up, “I'm sick of this thing. It's not worth it anymore.” He untied it and just let the gold and red cloth hang loosely around his neck.   
Remus sighed. He had figured it would only be a matter of time. He looked at Peter, “You wanna give up too?”  
Peter looked from Remus to James and back again and shrugged.  
Remus took it as a yes and tried to get Sirius up again. Sirius groaned and rolled over so that his face was buried into his pillow. Remus rolled his eyes, “Get up, Sirius. I'll tell Mcgonagall that you hate her class and think she's an old prude.”  
“No!” Sirius sat bolt upright in an instant. He whined, “Remus you're mean. I don't even think that about Mcgonagall.”  
Remus smirked, “Do you really think she wouldn't believe me if I told her that though?”  
“She probably would,” James laughed, “Remus is the good child after all.”  
Sirius whined and slowly got out of bed, “That's not fair. Mcgonagall would turn me into something crazy if you told her that. Something like a cup or a toilet.”  
Remus laughed and shrugged, “That wouldn't be my problem would it?” He handed Sirius one of the snacks Peter had gotten out. James and Sirius always managed to sleep through breakfast so they had to make due with Peter's snack stash.  
“What's our first class today again?” Peter asked.  
“Potions,” Remus answered.  
James groaned, “But that means we have to deal with that Slytherin kid.”  
“You seem to really dislike him,” Remus commented in a carefully crafted neutral voice.  
“He's weird. And gross. And Slytherin,” James insisted.  
Remus sighed quietly but didn't say anymore. He set Sirius' books next to him while his friend slogged through getting his shoes tied, still half asleep. Remus snapped his fingers in front of his face, “Hurry up. We'll be late if you can't move faster.”  
Sirius nodded, “Sure. Yeah. Working on it.”   
Remus sighed. He turned and saw James trying to sneak back into bed. He was across the room in an instant, “Don't you dare!”  
James whined, “I don't want to go to potions though!”  
Remus crossed his arms over his chest, “I swear you two. We're going to be late again. To potions class of all things! In case you've forgotten we're not his favorite students.”  
“Miss Evans is though. And we're in the same house,” Sirius argued.  
Remus gave Sirius a flat look, “To be honest I doubt she'll willingly vouch for us. You and James are not her favorite people.”  
Sirius smirked, “She's James' favorite person though.”  
“She is not!” James threw his pillow at Sirius.  
Remus rolled his eyes and gave a very annoyed sigh, “Peter and I are leaving without you.” He turned Peter away from their two other friends and led him away.  
“Wait!” James cried. He grabbed his books and scrambled after them, losing his tie in the process. Sirius quickly followed.  
The four of them barely made it into their potions class before they ran out of time. They were out of breath and sweating from the run to class.  
Professor Slughorn glanced at each of them in turn with varying levels of disapproval.  
“Sorry, Professor,” Remus apologized quickly.  
James flopped into his seat close to the back of the class, not bothering to hide his disdain.  
Remus sighed, watching his three other friends follow suit. He sat down calmly and payed attention.  
“Today we'll be attempting to make our first potions,” Professor Slughorn announced. Most of the class gasped in excitement.  
James rolled his eyes and muttered a sarcastic, “Hooray.”  
Sirius snickered.  
Slughorn explained where to find the recipe for the potion they would be making and then set his students off.  
James just kind of threw in ingredients based on curiosity on what would happen should he mess the recipe up. It quickly blew up in his face. He coughed and waved the purple colored smoke away.  
“Mr. Potter,” Slughorn sounded resigned, “The only way you would get purple smoke was if you measured the ingredients so wrongly that you couldn't have done it on accident.”  
James shrugged, “I was curious, Professor.”  
Slughorn sighed, “Mr. Potter, recipes are followed for a reason. To mess up a recipe too badly can have devastating consequences. Sometimes even deadly ones.”  
James rolled his eyes, “Yes Professor.”  
Slughorn went back to helping a Hufflepuff girl figure out what had gone wrong in her own potion.  
Sirius and James exchanged glances and shrugged.  
James started to doodle in his notebook, having botched his potion early on in class. Eventually he groaned and leaned back in his chair, “I am bored out of my mind.”  
Sirius suggested James help him on his potion. The two botched it within a few minutes of the offer, laughing hysterically.  
Slughorn didn't bother repeating the lecture he'd given James to the two of them. He simply glanced at them and shook his head in disappointment. He wasn't surprised though, being almost certain the two Gryffindors hadn't been paying attention since day one.  
James ripped a piece of parchment out of his notebook, “I wonder what'll happen if we add this to a potion?”  
“Don't,” Remus urged.  
James pouted at him.  
“You should put it in the Slytherin kid's cauldron,” Sirius suggested.  
“Yeah?” James grinned and glanced at Sirius who nodded vigorously. James got to his feet and started to walk around the classroom with the medium sized piece of crumbled parchment clutched loosely in his hand. When he passed by the kid while walking around he dropped the parchment in.  
“James!” Lily yelled. She and her Slytherin friend squeaked in surprise as the potion exploded in black and green smoke.  
James' jaw dropped and he laughed, “I didn't know smoke could be two colors!”  
“You ruined his potion,” Lily berated, “Wasn't ruining your own potion enough for you?”  
“What? It's all in good fun,” James insisted, “I'm just teasing. Besides, lesson learned right? Don't put parchment in a potion.”  
“That much is self explanatory,” the Slytherin kid muttered.  
James opened his mouth to deliver a cutting response but was interrupted by Slughorn telling him he had detention. He was ordered to return to his seat. James rolled his eyes, “Sorry, Professor.” He didn't sound apologetic at all. He half fell dramatically into his seat.  
Sirius snickered, “That was kinda cool. Who knew smoke could be two colors?”  
James nodded, “Right?!”   
James, Sirius and Peter started laughing.  
Remus remained silent, focusing very intently on his potion.


	7. Another Disappearance

James' friends met him outside of potions class after his detention. He rolled his eyes and sighed deeply, “That was the most boring detention I've had.”  
Sirius laughed, “Ah well. It's over now.”  
James nodded, “Yeah.” He tagged Sirius, “You're it!” He took off. Remus jumped away from Sirius when he tried to tag him and Peter squeaked and followed James. Remus followed them. Sirius chased his friends all the way to the dorm, before finally getting Peter.  
“I'm assuming Gryffindor lost points,” Remus said calmly.  
James nodded, “Yeah. We lost points.”  
Remus sighed, “Well, it was to be expected.”  
“It probably won't be long before all of Gryffindor dislikes us huh?” Peter asked nervously.  
“Gryffindor likes us just fine,” James insisted.  
Peter's fears seemed immediately eased.  
Sirius agreed but Remus remained silent.  
After a few weeks Remus disappeared again. This time, however, Professor Mcgonagall warned his friends before they found him mysteriously gone that he would be spending some time away. She also heavily discouraged them from attempting to find him. Instead she encouraged them to do something for their friend for when he returned. She did remind them that Remus would be returning exhausted, so they shouldn't go over the top with it.  
The group gathered up books from the library that they hadn't seen Remus reading yet that sounded interesting to them. They could do that without getting into trouble. However they also decided to steal a good amount of the crackers that Remus seemed to like from the kitchens of Hogwarts.  
“Sirius! You're stepping on my heels!” James hissed.  
“I'm sorry,” Sirius responded.  
Peter giggled softly.  
The three of them were hidden under the invisibility cloak, making their way down the stairs to the kitchen. They were almost there. The trick would then be to get the crackers without getting caught.  
Much to the boys' surprise, Lily Evans, who very obviously noticed them, provided a distraction to those around them by entangling them in conversation.  
Sirius and Peter grabbed all the cracker packages they could and the three of them hurried away. Once they got to the common room they took off the cloak and looked at each other in mixed amazement and confusion.  
“She did see us right?!” Sirius asked.  
“She looked right at us!” Peter added.  
“You're doing this for Remus aren't you?” A soft polite voice spoke from behind them.  
All three boys shrieked in surprise and whirled around to look at her, faces guilty, hands full of stolen cracker packages.  
“Well, yeah,” James nodded, “We are.”  
Lily nodded, “Then I see no reason for you three to get into trouble.” She smiled politely and said goodbye before walking up to the girls' dormitory.  
The three boys stared after her with their mouths hanging open.  
“Isn't Miss Evans always getting mad at us for teasing the Slytherin kid she always hangs out with though?” Peter asked.  
James nodded, “Yeah.”  
“Well she's an enigma,” Sirius muttered.  
James agreed and the three of them took the crackers and the cloak up the stairs. They piled the books up on Remus' bed and tied them together with red and gold ribbons. They left the cracker packages haphazardly stacked on their friends bedside table. James tensely stepped away from the leaning tower of crackers. His hands were raised and every part of his body was poised to leap forward and catch any crackers that fell. Luckily none did. He sighed and relaxed, “There! It's all good to go!”  
“Yay!” Sirius and Peter clapped.  
Sirius looked around suddenly solemn, “Do we know what month it is?”  
“It's October,” James responded.  
Sirius nodded, “Okay. Cool. That means Halloween will be coming up!”  
James grinned, “Yeah!”  
The three of them spent the next few hours planning what their Halloween was going to look like without noticing the lonely howls that echoed quietly into their room.  
The next morning the three of them agreed not to play their tag game without all four of them present to join in on the fun. They went through their classes normally. They talked and told jokes instead of paying attention, as usual. They caught Severus in a few more pranks, as usual. They got yelled at by Lily for it, as usual. James and Sirius got detention that Peter volunteered to do with them.  
That night however, they heard the howling. It left Peter spooked and unable to sleep so James and Sirius stayed up with him until he was too exhausted to fight sleep off any longer. James and Sirius climbed into their own beds but continued talking, planning their next pranks, and chatting back and forth about Halloween. Sirius eventually fell asleep leaving only James awake.  
James was still awake when the door to their room opened at dawn. He sat up and watched an incredibly exhausted Remus stagger in. James was halfway across the room in no time and helped his friend get to bed, “We got you books if you want to read them.”  
“Thanks,” Remus whispered in a ragged voice.  
James nodded, “And we got you the crackers you seem to like.”  
Remus nodded and smiled weakly, “Thanks.”  
James nodded again. He took it upon himself to get the other two up and to class that day so Remus could rest and not have to worry about them. He hadn't realized how exhausted his friend really was last time this had happened. He had slept right through Remus coming back in.  
Peter was easy to wake up but Sirius was difficult. James was too tired to have much patience when it came to his friend and he rolled his eyes, “Sirius, I'm going to hex you. Get up.”  
“You don't even know any hexes yet, James,” Sirius insisted. He looked at James in surprise, “Why are you getting us up?”  
“Because Remus is exhausted. We're also going to leave him alone until lunch time,” James declared.  
Sirius sighed, “Fine. I guess I can be cooperative this morning. But don't you start expecting it. I hate mornings and that's never changing.”  
James laughed, “Me too.”  
James managed to get them to class. They were a little late and Sirius managed to just stuff the last bit of his cookies into his mouth before they entered but he entered still chewing and unable to speak. The three of them didn't bother apologizing for being late.  
Mcgonagall scolded them for being late and told them to take their seats.  
The three of them obeyed and sat surprisingly quietly through her class. They were amazingly quiet throughout all of their morning class. Again they smuggled Remus a lunch from the Great Hall, loading a plate full of any and everything that looked appetizing.  
“Remus!” Sirius bounced across his friend's bed, “Did you like the books we left? You haven't read of them before have you?!”  
Remus looked startled for a moment but nodded, “I did like them.” He swallowed. He didn't have the heart to tell his friends that he had read three of the five books they'd left for him already but he also knew he was a terrible liar. Eventually he sighed. He lowered and shook his head, “And I haven't read any of the books before.” He made sure his voice sounded amused at his friends' antics.  
The three of them ate it up and celebrated that they had managed to find books Remus hadn't read before on their first try.  
Remus chuckled nervously and decided to take the opportunity of being out of the limelight to stick his nose in a book. More to cover up his discomfort than to actually read.

“We brought lunch!” Peter held the plate out to Remus proudly.  
Remus smiled, “Thanks guys.”  
“So, does Mcgonagall give you like special duties once a month or…?” Sirius asked.  
Remus swallowed and suddenly seemed very interested in his food. After a moment he mumbled, “Yeah. Something like that.”  
“Oh,” Sirius shrugged, “Alright.”


	8. Hexes and Chocolate

“So, James! You said you were gonna hex me right?” Sirius grinned.

“Yeah,” James nodded.

“What? When?” Remus asked in astonishment.

“When he wouldn't get up the other day,” James shrugged.

Sirius dropped a book onto James' bed, “Look what I found.”

“Is that why you wanted to borrow my cloak?” James asked.

Sirius nodded as he handed the cloak back to James, “That and Peter and I were getting more snacks.”

“Yeah,” Peter nodded.

James looked at the book, “Amusing and Humiliating Hexes and Jinxes.” He raised an eyebrow and smirked, “Okay.”

Remus looked from Sirius to James and back again, “What?! Hexes and Jinxes?”

“They aren't harmful, usually,” Sirius insisted.

James nodded, “Yeah. And it's not like we'd use them on just anybody.”

Sirius nodded, “Yeah. We'd never use it on someone like Miss Evans.”

“So Hufflepuff and half of Gryffindor is safe?” Remus asked incredulously.

James and Sirius exchanged glances and shrugged.

“They're not hurtful. They'd just be pranks and silly little jokes,” James insisted.

Remus sighed, “Fine. Promise me you won't use them on anybody. And I mean anybody.”

James and Sirius nodded, “We promise.”

Remus looked at Peter, “You too.”

Peter nodded vigorously, “I promise too!”

Remus sighed, “Alright.” He looked back at Peter, “Do you have any more of those crackers?”

Peter nodded, “Yep. I started keeping them in larger supply since you seem to like them so much.” Peter held out a package.

“Thanks,” Remus nodded and took the crackers from Peter.

“Any time,” Peter smiled.

“So I was thinking,” James started, “Wouldn't it be fun to slide down one of the hallways in our socks?”

Sirius started cackling maniacally, “That would be fun!”

“We might as well wait for winter and play in the snow,” Remus shrugged.

“But it's cold outside in winter,” Peter argued quietly.

Remus sighed, “Fine. Fine. It would be quite entertaining to slide around the halls in our socks.”

“Hey! Remus agrees!” Sirius yelled out dramatically.

Remus flinched slightly and put his hand over the ear that was closest to Sirius, “That was sudden.”

Sirius chuckled nervously, “Sorry.”

Remus shrugged, “It's fine.” He shrugged again, “I'm just...a little more sensitive to noise right now. You didn't know.”

Sirius apologized again before continuing on more quietly, “Remus is almost always telling us not to do whatever it is we suggest on doing.”

“That's not true,” Remus argued, “I just don't want you guys to get into trouble for doing whatever it is you want to do. There are ways to do all the things you want without breaking as many rules as you guys do.”

James looked surprised, “Is that why? I just thought you were a worry wart.”

“I am a worry wart, thank you,” Remus insisted, “But yes. You guys just don't give me the chance to explain to you why I'm arguing before insisting on doing it anyway.”

“Well then,” James shrugged, “We'll listen to Remus from now on then.”

“Or at least try to,” Sirius muttered.

All four of them burst into laughter.

It didn't take long for James and Sirius to break their promise to Remus. Remus proceeded to revise the promise to making them not use it out of any malicious intent. His two friends are much more willing to agree to that promise and keep it much better.

The four of them skipped a potions class to go sliding through the halls in their socks. The spent a week studying which halls were used most and least often and chose a usually unused hallway. All four of them were barely able to contain their excitement as they slid as quietly as possible through the halls to their chosen hallway.

Sirius sat down on the ground and pulled his shoes off. His friends had to pull him up because the floor was slippery enough he couldn't stand on his own. He started laughing hysterically.

James remained standing and had purposefully not tied his shoes that morning so that he could get them off easily without having to sit.

Peter also hadn't tied his shoes.

Remus had tied his shoes but managed to get them off without untying them, somehow.

James watched his friend kick his shoes off with ease, “Is that why you're always ready so quickly?”

“Part of it probably,” Remus shrugged, “The other part is that I actually get up in a timely manner.”

James stuck his tongue out at him. He started spinning around on one foot, “Look I'm a-” He cut off as he slid sideways and landed on his side. They all started laughing.

They spent a couple of hours sliding around, laughing and giggling.

“What do you four think you're doing?” Professor Mcgonagall asked as she caught Peter before he fell flat on his face. She helped the boy stand up straight before fixing all four of them with a disapproving stare.

Peter didn't dare move except to look up at the professors face.

James slid to a stop and turned, “We're playing in our socks, Professor.”

“What should you be doing?” Mcgonagall asked.

James and Sirius exchanged confused glances.

“We should be in class, Professor,” Remus answered.

Mcgonagall nodded, “See that you get there.” Her eyes narrowed slightly, “With your shoes on, prepared for class.”

“Yes Ma'am,” Remus nodded.

“Sure thing, Professor,” James nodded.

“And I would like to see all four of you in detention,” Mcgonagall added.

They nodded.

Mcgonagall strode away.

Peter relaxed, “I thought she was gonna murder me.”

“C'mon!” James grinned, “Mcgonagall loves us. There's no way she would kill us.”

“She's perfectly content dishing out detentions,” Sirius complained.

“Yeah, but we'll have detention together,” James reminded his friend.

Sirius grinned suddenly, “Yeah!”

Remus shook his head in mixed resignation and amusement, “You guys are impossible.”

“You love us,” Sirius insisted.

Remus laughed.

Sirius and James led the way into class. They arrived halfway through class but sat down anyway. Remus explained to the professor that they already had detention so there was no need to assign it.

The four of them snuck into the kitchens to grab snacks, Remus acting at the distraction. He began talking to the house elves, “What're you guys preparing for right now?”

“Dinner, Young Gryffindor,” one answered.

Remus nodded, “What's on the menu for dinner tonight out of curiosity?”

“Salads, poultry, bread rolls, pasta.”

“And other things too!”

“Is there going to be desert?” Remus asked curiously.

“Of course! Why wouldn't there be desert?”

“Move, please.”

Remus quickly stepped out of the elf's way. He noticed a pot of melting chocolate sitting on one of the many stoves. He looked around at the elves. They all seemed busy. “What's going to be for desert?” He grabbed a spoon and played with it absentmindedly.

“Chocolates, fruit, pie, cake, all sorts of sweet goodies.”

Remus smiled, “Nice!”

“Not that we do not mind your company, Young Gryffindor, but we are busy.”

“Right,” Remus nodded apologetically, “Sorry.” He watched the house elves. Once none of them were looking directly at him he ate a spoonful of melted chocolate. He slipped the spoon into the water that was washing the dishes and hurried out of the kitchen.

His friends welcomed him under the invisibility cloak as he was wiping chocolate off his lips. The four of them hurried out of the kitchen.

“Remus!” James yelled in astonishment.

Remus swallowed the chocolate, “That was hot.”

“You stole the chocolate!” Sirius cackled.

“Yeah,” Remus nodded, “I like chocolate.”

“ _You_ stole it!” James repeated, “You never steal anything. You make us do it.”

Remus shrugged, “It was chocolate. Besides, it was right there.”

“If you want I can start storing chocolate in my snack box,” Peter offered, “If you like it that much.”

Remus grinned, “Would you?”

Peter nodded.

“If we had known you liked chocolate then we could've grabbed the chocolate cookies that were in there,” Sirius complained.

“I didn't think you guys would care to know,” Remus shrugged, “I'm sorry.”

“We'll get them next time,” James decided.


	9. Making Plans for Halloween

“What's a good name for that Slytherin kid since his actual name is impossible to remember,” James was lying on his back tossing and catching a crumpled piece of parchment. He did know the Slytherin kid's name in all actuality but calling him by it wasn't really worth the effort.

Sirius looked at him, “Hm.” He shrugged, “Snivellus.”

James snickered, “Alright.”

“Isn't that a bit mean?” Remus asked uneasily.

“No,” Sirius shook his head, “The kid's always crying and whining.”

James shrugged, “Like Sirius said.”

Remus looked from James to Sirius and back again before silently returning to his book.

James sat next to Lily in their next class, “So...hi.” Sirius sat diagonally in front of him to his right while Peter and Remus sat together behind him.

“Hello,” Lily responded politely. She didn't look up from the notes she was taking.

James leaned forward to try to get a look at his face, “We're in the same house but we don't talk much.”

Lily's tone remained politely sweet as she explained, “You bully my friend and you run through the halls and you break the rules.”

James gawked at her, “Well-I-I do a lot more than just that.”

Sirius tried to hide his snickering but failed miserably.

Lily didn't respond.

James sighed and sulked, “She's ignoring me.”

Sirius started laughing.

James crumbled up a piece of parchment and threw it at him, “Stop laughing at me, Sirius!”

Sirius only laughed harder.

After a couple of minutes of awkward silence James asked, “Would you talk to me more if I stopped running through the halls?”

“James,” Lily said sweetly.

“Yeah?” James responded.

“Please be quiet.”

“I am being quiet,” James insisted.

Lily glanced at him and very nicely said, “Then please stop talking.”

Sirius choked from trying to hold in his laughter.

James stared at her, “What else am I supposed to do?”

Lily looked at the blank parchment sitting in front of him and and then back up at him before silently returning to her note taking.

Sirius laughed so loud the professor told him sternly to quiet down.

James sulked.

In charms class they were just learning Wingardium Leviosa. Lily said the words silently in her heard while she made the swish and flick wand motion until she felt she had lined the words up to the motion correctly before even attempting the spell. James and Sirius were purposefully doing it wrong to see what would happen. Remus was trying and failing to convince his friends that was a bad idea. Peter giggled, which only encouraged James and Sirius.

Sirius's feather exploded in a bright flash. All four of them, even Remus, started laughing uncontrollably. They were sent out into the hallway until they could contain themselves and return to class. Their laughing could still be heard, even over all of the other students continuing their attempts at the spell.

Lily finally attempted the spell. The feather rose into the air as she willed it. After a couple of seconds floating at eye level she gently set the feather back down in front of her. Her cheeks flushed as she was praised by everyone around her. The professor took notice and praised her as well.

James, Sirius, Peter, and Remus walked back in comparatively calmly, though they were still stifling some laughter.

“That was funny,” James swallowed a laugh.

Sirius nodded, “It was super bright too. I'mma be blind for a few weeks.”

Peter started laughing again.

Remus shook his head, “You guys are going to get us in so much trouble. We haven't even gotten halfway through our first year yet.”

James and Sirius bursts out laughing.

“C'mon Remus! It was _funny_.” James giggled.

Remus laughed, “Yeah. Yeah it was.”

“What should we do for Halloween?” Peter asked curiously, suddenly cutting the mood.

James paused thoughtfully, “I don't know.”

“We should make really scary masks and then try to terrify as many people as possible!” Sirius exclaimed excitedly.

“Haven't we already learned we can't do that though?” Remus asked, “Last time we tried to scare people we only managed to do it once before laughing so hard _we_ nearly fell out of the common room.”

James and Sirius started laughing again. James nodded, “But their faces were so priceless!”

“I love how he's like ' _we_ nearly fell out of the common room'!” Sirius was crying now he was laughing so hard.

Remus sighed but had a smile on his face, “Well we did.”

Peter couldn't breathe anymore.

“Would you four be quiet please?”

James looked up and met the gaze of a Ravenclaw boy that was sitting a few seats from them. He swallowed his next laugh, “Sorry.” His voice was strained and tense from the effort of holding it in.

“If you four must giggle and laugh, you may return to the hallway.”

They willingly got up and left, laughing all the way out the door.

They were just starting to calm down when Professor Mcgonagall walked by. “What are the four of you doing out here?”

They all burst out laughing again.

“Sorry Professor,” Remus barely managed to speak through his laughter.

“We were trying to do the levia-” James cut off as he messed up the word. The four of them laughed even harder.

Mcgonagall raised her eyebrows, waiting patiently for an explanation. Her toe tapped on the hard tile floor making a noise similar to the ticking of a clock.

Remus finally managed to calm down enough to explain what had happened. He omitted the part where Sirius and James were doing it on purpose and blamed the exploding feather on James. He told her they'd been unable to stop laughing since.

Mcgonagall sighed and told them to collect themselves and head back into class once they were calm enough to resume.

“Yes Professor!” All of them said in unison. The laughing resumed almost instantly. The four of them ended up missing the rest of charms and the entirety of the class afterwards. Mcgonagall sent them back to the Gryffindor dorms with their classwork due the next day as hers was the last class of the day and she doubted they'd be able to focus through it.

“So what are we doing for Halloween?” Peter asked.

“Hm,” James remained thoughtfully silent for many moments.

“We could ask some of housemates and classmates what they're planning on doing and come with something based off that,” Remus suggested.

James nodded, “That's a brilliant idea! We'll be able to come up with something WAY more awesome than anybody else for Halloween if we know what everyone else is doing!”

“I didn't mean it to be a competition but okay,” Remus shrugged indifferently.

“Everything's a competition,” Sirius insisted, “And WE WILL WIN!”

“Yeah!” Peter grinned.

Remus smiled, “Yeah!” Though his response was much quieter than his friends' it was no less enthusiastic.

James pulled a notepad out of one of his dresser drawers and grabbed a quill and ink, “Okay! So what are we going to call this operation?”

“Operation...” All four of them were silent for a long time.

“Pumpkin Head,” Sirius burst out laughing.

They all devolved into giggling.

“Pumpkin Head isn't going to work,” Remus insisted after they had finally calmed down, “Cause we don't know what we're doing for Halloween yet.”

“Okay, so what we'll actually be doing will be called Pumpkin Head,” James wrote as he spoke.

“But in the mean time we need a name for the operation of finding out what we will be doing?”

“What about...” Peter looked up at the ceiling thoughtfully, “Treat Hunting?”

“Or Ghost Hunting!” Sirius exclaimed.

“Yeah!” Peter nodded excitedly.

Remus looked confused, “But we're not...going Ghost Hunting. We're going idea hunting.”

“But it can't be an obvious operation name or everyone will know about it,” James said.

“But with Ghost Hunting the ghosts of the castle might get confused,” Remus pointed out.

All three of his friends deflated.

“Man,” Sirius whined.

“It sounded so cool too,” Peter complained.

“Remus is right though. We don't want the ghosts to think we're hunting them.”

“So...” Remus paused and looked out the window, “What about Skeleton Hunting? There aren't any sentient skeletons in the castle or even in the forest.”

“Operation Skeleton Hunting,” James paused for a moment. He looked at Sirius and Peter. Peter looked excited again and nodded enthusiastically.

Sirius looked thoughtful. After a moment he nodded, “Okay. Operation Skeleton Hunting.”

“Operation Skeleton Hunting begins tomorrow!” James exclaimed, “Meaning we have to be up on time and ready to interrogate people on what they plan to do this Halloween!”

All three of his friends agreed enthusiastically. James handed each of his friends a notepad and a quill to write down their findings with. He declared they would make a master list of ideas on normal sized parchment. They were to continue Operation Skeleton Hunting until three days before Halloween at which point the Master List would be created and they would begin brainstorming their own ideas to try and win the competition for best Halloween idea ever.


	10. Operation Skeleton Hunting

“Hey!” James sat down next to a pretty Hufflepuff girl with light brown hair in his first class.

She looked at him in surprise, “Hello. You usually sit over there.” She pointed to the other side of the room.

James smiled and nodded, “Yeah.” He held out his hand for her to shake, “I'm James Potter!”

She took his hand, “I'm Margarette Wood.”

James smiled, “Hi Margarette. I was wondering what you planned on doing this Halloween.”

She looked surprised, “Well...usually Hufflepuff helps in the kitchens. We help the house elves make the pastries and pies for everyone.”

James wrote down her response exactly as she had said it, “Anything else?”

Margarette looked very confused for a moment before continuing, “We do hold a costume party. Any one is welcome to come, no matter the house.”

James finished writing and grinned. He took her hand and shook it again, “Thanks Margarette!” He waited for the professor to turn their backs before migrating to a different part of the room. He sat down on the floor next to a boy from his own house, “Hi. I'm James.”

James and Sirius continued to move around the classroom talking to various students. James managed to talk Remus into talking to Lily in their next class because she ignored James whenever he tried to. Remus was very reluctant but agreed anyway. He and James traded spots in that class, with him sitting next to Lily and James sitting next to Peter. Since it was Mcgonagall's class, not even James and Sirius moved around the room like they had last class.

Remus cleared his throat uncomfortably. He looked at James and whispered, “This isn't going to work. I'm pretty sure she'll ignore anybody.”

“She won't ignore you,” James insisted, “She loves you.” He motioned to Lily, “Go on! And don't forget to write down what she says.”

Remus cleared his throat again, “Um...”

Lily glanced at him but didn't pause in her note taking.

James started talking to the kid sitting next to him quietly.

Remus glanced from the notepad James had given him to Lily and back again multiple times. He swallowed, “Miss-um, Lily. Can we talk after class? There was just something I wanted to ask you. It won't take very long. I promise you won't be late to your next class.”

Lily nodded, “Of course. I wouldn't mind talking after class at all.”

Remus nodded to himself. He began taking notes as well. He could feel James's disapproving look boring into his back and shot his friend a glare over his shoulder, “It's not like I'm not asking her. I'm almost certain she would've ignored me if I had just asked her now.”

James accepted the answer cheerfully, “Just be sure to write down what she says.”

Remus nodded, “I will.” Remus met Lily just outside the doorway of the classroom. She was with Severus and another Gryffindor girl he didn't know the name of. He shrugged, “Hey, uh, you guys.”

“Hello,” Lily responded politely.

Severus hugged his books closer to him and remained silent.

“Hi,” Lily's Gryffindor friend waved happily.

Remus held his hand out to her, “I'm...uh Remus.” He didn't quite know how exactly to introduce himself to others and thus emulated James.

She took it and shook it, “I'm Alice.”

Remus smiled and nodded, “I was just wondering what you guys do on Halloween?”

Alice paused thoughtfully, “Well I was actually thinking of hanging out with Margarette.”

Remus nodded and wrote it down. He didn't know who Margarette was but James said write down everything.

“Severus and I are probably going to hand out candy to other students,” Lily suggested.

Remus nodded, “That sounds like fun.” He looked at Severus rather uneasily but didn't prompt him to answer.

After many awkward moments of silence Severus said, “My family has a tradition of telling scary stories at night.”

Remus smiled and nodded, “Okay. Thanks.” It took him a moment but he awkwardly said goodbye before walking away.

“Why'd you ask Snivellus?” Sirius asked disdainfully.

“Because it's nice to get everybody's perspective,” Remus explained rather shortly.

“But he's Slytherin,” James muttered.

“His idea was a perfectly good one,” Remus showed James the notepad and pointed to the one that Severus had suggested.

“That is a good one,” James pouted. He smiled at Remus suddenly, “Nice job talking to that one girl by the way.”

Remus lowered his gaze and his face flushed. He mumbled, “Yeah.”

“Wait, did you not know her?” Sirius sounded impressed.

Remus shook his head, “No. Her name is Alice.”

Sirius grinned, “Whoo-hoo! The shy one is breaking out of his shell!”

Peter clapped excitedly, “We should celebrate with cookies!”

James nodded, “Yeah!”

Remus shook his head quickly, “No. No. No. That's not necessary. You guys really don't need to celebrate me actually talking to somebody.”

James smirked and a knowing glow lit up his eyes, “But you do.”

“No I don't,” Remus insisted, “I'd much rather just continue on with my life.”

“Remus! Come on!” Sirius wrapped his arm around his friend's slumped shoulders, “If the four of us don't celebrate each other's accomplishments then who will?”

James and Peter nodded vigorously.

“It's not that much of an accomplishment,” Remus muttered.

James grinned, “Yes it is!” He dragged his friends to the Gryffindor boys dorm. He helped Peter grab a bunch of cookies and handed them out to everybody. The group headed to class with a bunch of packaged cookies. Somehow James believed his friends would be able to eat in class without getting caught.

The group continued to talk to nearly any random student. They'd stop fellow students in the halls and they'd ask during class. James and Sirius usually did the talking if they were in the hall with Remus and Peter remaining silent and listening.

“Hey! Snivellus!” James plopped down next to the smaller Slytherin boy, “What're you doing on Halloween?”

Sirius snickered behind him.

Severus shifted so he was sitting as far from James as he could without sitting on top of the kid next to him, “You're friend, Remus, already asked me.”

“Well, technically he didn't ask you directly,” Sirius shrugged, “And we thought we'd ask you.”

“Ask your friend. I already answered the question,” Severus snapped.

“Potter.”

James looked up in surprise to see Lily Evans standing slightly off to the side, “Hey-uh, Lily. What's up?”

She didn't look impressed with him. However, she remained as polite as ever as she calmly explained he was in her seat.

James smiled. He nodded, “I'll give it right back. We just need to ask this Snape kid here a few questions.” He turned back to Severus.

“His name is Severus,” Lily corrected. “And class is about to start.”

Sirius sighed, “We should probably go then.” He looked at Severus, “Don't worry, though, Snivellus.”

“We'll come back and ask later,” James promised. The two of them got up and walked over to their seats.

Lily sat down next to her friend and apologized to him for her housemates' behavior.

James and Sirius exchanged glances. “We were just teasing,” James muttered, “There was no need to apologize.”

Sirius shrugged, “Miss Evans is nice to everybody though.”

James nodded, “Yeah.” The two of them sat down in their spots and asked the kids around them what their plans for Halloween was.


	11. Seven Days Till Halloween

“Hey, Lupin!”

Remus looked up in surprise. People didn't usually talk to him. He became nervous when he noticed a rather large group of Slytherins headed his way. He wouldn't be very popular with them simply because he was a Gryffindor but they liked him even less due to his association with James.

“What's with the scars?”

Remus' eyes widened. He pretended not to have heard them.

“C'mon, bookworm. You're too weak to have gotten them in a fight,” the Slytherin's eyes glittered knowingly, “Aren't you?”

Remus took a deep breath and lowered his head. He began to curl up slightly and shrink into himself. Ever so quietly he started to speak, “Um...”

“Hey!” James' voice and running steps echoed through the hall. He grabbed Remus' arm and pulled him backwards so that he wasn't standing nearly as close to the lead Slytherin, “Leave him be!”

Peter hovered slightly behind Remus and offered him some chocolate.

Remus took it gratefully.

The Slytherin sneered, “Or what? You'll go crying to Grandma Mcgonagall?”

James' face darkened to a terrifying angry glare. He put himself between the Slytherin and Remus and coldly stated, “I don't need to get Mcgonagall. You snakes don't scare me.”

Sirius stood next to James, between Remus and the Slytherins, “Get lost. Slimy underhanded little brat.”

“Or what?”

James and Sirius exchanged glances.

“We'll hex you,” Sirius shrugged, almost passing it off like it was a joke.

The Slytherins mistakenly took it as such and pulled out their wands. The leader sneered, “There's more of us than there are of you. And you Gryffindors are too concerned with right and wrong to actually do a hex.”

“You guys promised you wouldn't use those like that!” Remus hissed.

“No one's gonna talk to one of my friends like that. Not without getting something in return,” James insisted.

Sirius sneered, “I'm a member of the Black Family. Do you really think I'm too good for it?” He and James pulled out their own wands, both of them cool and confident.

“Now. Now. Now.” A smooth voice interrupted. An older student with very pale blond hair walked up to the group, “We don't want to go causing trouble, do we?” He was a Slytherin and obviously proud of it. He looked his classmates over disapprovingly, “How are we to consider ourselves better if we stoop to their level?”

The Slytherins quickly apologized, addressing the boy as Malfoy.

James fell uncomfortably silent.

Sirius however snapped, “Better?! Than us? You must be out of your mind!” His eyes narrowed hatefully, “Malfoy.” He hissed the name spitefully. He seemed to have been consumed with an unhindered hatred the likes of which his friends had never seen.

Malfoy nonchalantly pointed his wand at Sirius, “I am years ahead of you. They are years ahead of you. A Slytherin inherently knows the art of subtlety. Of course we are above you.” Malfoy turned on his heel and led his housemates away. Every last one of them sneered and laughed at the Gryffindor boys as they went.

Sirius glared after them.

James grabbed his friend's arm, “Don't go after them, Sirius. If there's one thing that Malfoy jerk got right it's that he _is_ years ahead of us. That makes him more experienced. Whether we like it or not.”

Sirius stared at him, “Is something wrong with you, James?! You picked a fight with Dumbledore but you're afraid of _some kid_ that thinks he's better than us just cause he's older?!”

“That's not why I'm afraid, Sirius!” James raised his voice angrily.

Sirius shrank, for a moment looking terrified of his best friend.

James took a deep breath and his voice was much quieter and gentler as he explained, “I'm sorry I yelled. Dumbledore would punish _us_. If we did something wrong it would come down to _us_. Even Snivellus will keep it to the _four of us_. I have no doubt that Malfoy kid would target _anyone_. Miss Evans. Her friends. Some random Gryffindor. Maybe even someone in a completely different house. And he is more experienced than them. He wouldn't pick a fair fight. That is what I am afraid of. I am afraid of Malfoy punishing someone else _because of us_.”

Sirius glared after the Slytherins for a moment before taking his own deep breath and nodded, “Alright. I see your point.”

“Let's get back to the common room,” Remus suggested calmly. He led the way. This time the group walked in heavy silence.

“Are you guys alright? You're usually messing around,” Alice welcomed them as they entered the common room.

Remus nodded, “We're fine. It's just been a long day. How are you, Alice?” His three friends slid unnoticed up to their room.

“I'm fine,” Alice smiled, “Lily and I are gonna go study in the library.”

Remus smiled, “Say hi to Lily for us?”

Alice nodded, “Sure thing.”

Remus hurried up the stairs after his friends.  The four of them sat in silence for a long time.

“Do you guys want snacks?” Peter asked quietly.

“Sure,” Sirius smiled and nodded.

“What do ya got?” James asked enthusiastically.

“Well...it's mostly cookies now. I have some chocolates. And I still have some crackers. But we need to get more of those.”

All three of his friends exchanged glances. James pulled out his invisibility cloak, “Let's go get some crackers.”

The four of them erupted into laughter as they struggled to get down the stairs to the kitchens.  This time James provided the distraction while the other three stole the crackers. He made conversation with the house elves. He also informed them that their cooking is phenomenal and he really likes the bread that they make.  He smiled when they celebrated his praise. The lead house elf gave him enough bread for him and his friends. James thanked them and left. The group made their way back to the common room.

“They gave us bread?” Remus shrugged and took a bite out of his.

“Their bread is the best thing they make,” James shrugged.

“I prefer their fried chicken, but yeah the bread is pretty great,” Sirius said.

P eter grinned and held up the crackers, “Now we have crackers!”

Remus took some chocolate while Sirius had cookies and James and Peter had crackers.

James looked at Remus, “How many more days till Halloween?”

Remus thought for a moment before responding, “Seven.”

“Four more days of Operation Skeleton Hunting then,” James declared.

His friends nodded.

“We've got quite a nice list,” Peter said, “I have two pages of ideas and I haven't been asking as many people as you guys.”

James nodded proudly, “And Remus is talking to people he doesn't know!”

Remus gave him an annoyed glare.

James grinned innocently.

Remus rolled his eyes, “Seriously?”

Sirius grinned.

Remus pointed at him.  He quickly and firmly commanded , “Don't you dare.”

Sirius opened his mouth to say something.

“No,” Remus ordered firmly.

Sirius raised his eye brows and took a breath.

“Sirius.” Remus shook his head disapprovingly.

Sirius' grin broadened and he started to talk, “Ab-”

James and Peter were snickering.

“Don't.”

“But-”

“You.”

“But-”

“Dare.”

“Remus,” Sirius whined pathetically. He pouted over-dramatically and started throwing a fit like a young child.

“No,” Remus remained just as firm as ever.

Sirius sighed, “But I'm absolut-”

“No.”

James and Peter couldn't breathe anymore but  still managed to laugh quietly.

Sirius sulked playfully for about two seconds before bursting out laughing.

Remus chuckled and shook his head.

“I-”

“No!”

Sirius cursed, “Damn. I thought I'd gotten him!”

“Sirius, language,” Remus knew the attempt was in vain and was nowhere near surprised when his friend stuck his tongue out at him. He glanced out the window. It was dark outside. “We should get some sleep. We'll have to be up on time if we're going to successfully continue with Operation Skeleton Hunting tomorrow.”

His friends nodded. They all went to bed.

“Do you think that animals have their own language and we sound just as unintelligible to them as they do to us?” James asked after about an hour.

Sirius rolled over to face him, “Or maybe they can understand us and we're just dumb.”

James giggled.

“If you two wake Peter up again you're going to have to coax him back to sleep this time,” Remus warned.

James stuck his tongue out at him, “Yeah. We know.”

“And it would make sense for animals to have their own languages. But I think each species has it's own language and there would be different dialects of the languages for animals of the same species hailing from different locations. Kind of like how different people speak different languages and there are different dialects within those languages,” Remus explained.

Sirius and James exchanged impressed glances.

“Now good night,” Remus whispered.

“Night,” James responded.

“See ya beautiful morons tomorrow,” Sirius laughed.

“You know what, I am beautiful,” James insisted.

Remus sighed, “And I wonder why it takes ten thousand years to get those two up in the morning.” He shook his head and closed his eyes. He did his best to block his friends out but they were too loud. Instead he decided to just lay awake and listen to them argue over which one of them was the most beautiful. Because obviously everything was a competition.


	12. It's Finally Halloween

“Guess what day it is! Guess what day it is!” James bounced on Sirius' bed excitedly.

Sirius groaned and mumbled out a halfhearted insult before rolling over.

Remus lifted his head and watched his friend through eyes narrowed against the light. James had lit every candle in the room and was yelling and bouncing.

James hopped off of Sirius' bed and moved on to Peter's.

Peter woke up easily. “Wha-?”

James leaned in really close to his friend's face, “Guess what day it is!”

Peter looked confused for a moment. His eyes widened in sudden excitement, “It's Halloween isn't it?!”

James nodded, “Yep! C'mon! We gotta get up! We need to put our epic Halloween plan into action! It's finally time to initiate Operation Pumpkin Head!”

Remus sat up and sighed. He glanced outside, “James.”

“Yeah?!” James stopped bouncing and grinned at Remus.

Remus gave him a very dry look, “Did you sleep _at all_ last night?”

James shook his head, “Nope! I was too excited!”

Remus nodded, “Thought so. That's the only way you would be awake at three in the morning.” He motioned to James' bedside table, “You need your glasses.”

James looked surprised and looked at the table, “Oh. I don't have my glasses!”

Sirius sat up and yawned, “It's three in the morning?”

Peter nodded, “Yep.”

“This is completely idiotic,” Sirius yawned again. He stood up and walked over to stand between Remus and Peter's beds.

Remus chuckled. He kicked off his blankets and sat up. He pulled the sleeves of his overly large sweater down over his hands and stretched.

Sirius leaped to get Remus' stomach.

Remus lurched backwards and rolled over and off of his bed.

Sirius stumbled into Remus' bedside table and cursed.

Remus fixed his sweater as he stood up, “Language, Sirius.”

“How the hell do you move that fast?” Sirius laughed.

“Language,” Remus repeated. He didn't answer the question. Instead he turned to Peter and James, “We'll need to be quiet. It is still within curfew hours.”

James and Peter nodded.

Sirius grinned, “Imagine the amazingly terrifying faces we'll have all day.”

James nodded, “It'll be great! No one thought of doing face paint instead of masks!”

“And we can still go to the Hufflepuff costume party,” Peter smiled happily.

“Yep!” James jumped up and down excitedly, “And maybe Miss Evans will let us pass candy out with her.”

“We'll have to hang out with Severus then,” Remus pointed out.

James looked thoroughly disappointed, “Maybe we can get Miss Evans to go to the costume party with us.” He grabbed his invisibility cloak.

All of them gathered under it and they headed out of the common room. They managed to find some basic paint colors. Since it was all they could carry they agreed that they would just mix the colors to make whatever other colors they needed. They took it back to their dorm room. It had taken an hour just to get the paint and bring it back up.

“Ah man,” James sighed suddenly, “We could've used the Leviosa charm to bring more paint with us.”

Remus shook his head, “I wouldn't trust us with paint held by a Leviosa charm ever.” He opened the single window in their room.

“Notice he says us,” Sirius laughed.

James and Peter laughed.

“I'm-uh. I'm not joking!” Remus insisted. He was about to say he was being serious but didn't want to go through that again.

Sirius had looked hopeful but sulked.

Remus smiled, “I managed to get you not to make a pun once. I'm not going through that again.”

Sirius whined, “But I love making puns. You're no fun.”

“We have to hurry up and paint our faces.”

“Is it going to kill us?” Peter asked.

James Remus and Sirius exchanged glances.

Remus shrugged, “Who knows?” He grabbed a set of paintbrushes he and Sirius had managed to borrow from another student, “I'm sure Madam Pomfrey will be more than happy to fix anything that goes wrong after this little experiment.”

James and Sirius also shrugged. The four of them sat in a circle around the paint buckets.

“Okay, so,” James grabbed the piece of parchment they had written their Grand Halloween Plan on, “We still haven't decide if who is going to paint whose faces.”

“How about whoever is to our left paints our face,” Sirius suggested.

James looked around, “So I'd be painting Peter's and he'd be painting Remus and Remus would be painting yours and you'd be painting mine?”

Sirius nodded.

James looked at Peter and Remus.

Remus shrugged, “Sure.”

Peter nodded, “Sounds like fun!”

James grinned, “Let's get started!”

Remus opened up the bag the paint brushes were kept in, “We can also use our hands if we'd prefer. It would just be messier that way.”

“We could paint our hands too though!” Peter exclaimed.

James and Sirius exchanged glances and grinned.

“We can literally make our costumes out of paint,” James nodded.

Remus chuckled, “Alright.”

All four of them had severely underestimated how difficult it would be to paint anything. Let alone with a constantly giggling person as their canvas. Remus was the only one that had opted to use the brushes at all. The other three used their hands.

“Sirius sit still!” Remus snapped, “I am trying to get something halfway decent out of this.” He choked back a laugh in an effort to keep his hand as steady as possible.

Sirius did his best but couldn't stop laughing.

Peter and James were giggling heaps already. They were lying on their sides, leaving paint marks on the floor.

Remus cursed under his breath he made a pretty bad mistake.

“Remus,” Sirius shook his head in mock disappointment, “You need to watch your language young man. Goodness gracious. People will start thinking you picked something up from the rest of us.” He started giggling maniacally.

James and Peter laughed even harder.

Remus started laughing despite his best efforts, “Sirius. I am trying to paint something on your face. Can you be quiet for two seconds?”

Sirius nodded, “Sure.” He counted two seconds in his head before grinning.

“That's not what I meant,” Remus snapped before he could speak, “And you're going to end up eating paint if you keep grinning like that.”

All four of them laughed hysterically.

Finally Remus and James finished up with Sirius and Peter. Now it was time for Peter to paint Remus' face and Sirius to paint James.

Sirius grinned, “Close your eyes and your mouth. And don't open them.”

James laughed but managed to do as he was told.

Sirius dipped his hand in all of the paint colors and just ran his hand diagonally across James' face. They both burst out laughing again.

Remus shook his head, “Wow.”

Peter poked different colored dots across Remus' forehead and they started laughing. Remus barely managed to resist the urge to rub his forehead.

Peter then poked multicolored dots along Remus' cheekbones.

“Am I a dalmatian now?” Remus asked between laughs.

Peter, James, and Sirius laughed hysterically. Remus quickly followed suit.

“I was going more for a clown,” Peter giggled, “cause they're scary.”

“Clown. Okay,” Remus laughed.

Eventually the four of them managed to successfully finish painting each other's faces. They were all a mess of colors and streaks. They weren't anywhere near calm when they hurried down to their first class.


	13. The Hospital Wing

“Where did you four get that paint?” Mcgonagall asked the moment they entered her classroom.

Peter shrugged.

“In a big empty room that was full of all sorts of different paints!” James explained excitedly.

“If it's full of paint then it wouldn't have been empty,” Remus whispered.

James started laughing.

Mcgonagall pointed to her door, “Hospital Wing. Now.”

All four of them looked at each other in confusion.

Mcgonagall stared them down sternly, “Do you need me to escort you or can you find it on your own?”

“We can find it on our own,” James said quietly.

The four of them left the classroom.

When Madam Pomfrey saw them she nearly murdered all four of them. She had them clean up and kept them in the hospital wing even though they all insisted they were fine. It took about an hour for them to finally feel it but then it hit them hard and fast.

Sirius felt it first, “I'm not feeling so great anymore.”

Remus looked at his friend worriedly, “It's not...bad is it?”

Sirius shrugged, “I just feel kinda queasy and a little dizzy.”

Remus relaxed a little bit.

Sirius' face paled suddenly.

Madam Pomfrey seemed to teleport to his side. She gave him a rather large bucket.

All four of them were vomiting into buckets within half an hour.

Remus was more than a little freaked out, having had little experience with sickness like this.

Sirius was laughing hysterically though none of his friends really knew why.

Peter was making his misery quite obvious and seemed to be doing the worst of all of them.

James was the last to feel it and was more used to being sick, having pulled stupid stunts like this pretty much his whole life. He was the calmest.

James grinned, “Did I tell you guys about that one time when I ate an uncooked egg and Mom had to take me to the hospital?” He sounded exhausted.

“Why would you eat an uncooked egg?” Remus asked.

“I was five,” James shrugged, “And I didn't realize that the reason you weren't supposed to eat an uncooked egg was because you could die. Mom panicked really bad. I felt pretty bad. We laugh about it now though.”

“I knew being friends with you would be fun,” Sirius said.

Peter whined unintelligibly.

James and Sirius successfully stifled their laughter.

Remus stared at the ceiling without quite seeing it.

“We should do this again next year,” Sirius said.

“Maybe we should try to find nontoxic paint,” Remus suggested.

“The paint wasn't labeled! How were we supposed to know if it would do this?”

“Maybe we should petition Professor Dumbledore to label his paint,” Peter suggested.

James and Sirius started laughing.

Remus chuckled but forced himself to stop when it made him feel worse.

“What holiday is after this one? Christmas?” James grinned and then sulked suddenly, “Man, we'll be going home for Christmas though.”

“Let's not talk about Christmas,” Sirius said firmly.

“Alright,” James looked surprised but didn't question it. He glanced at Remus.

Remus shrugged, “We'd best not.”

Sirius vomited again.

“That sounded awful!” Alice walked in beside Lily and another one of their friends. She set flowers down next to each of their beds.

Sirius laughed, “I've gotten used to it by now. No point in fighting it.”

Lily sat down next to Peter's bed, “Why'd you guys paint your faces anyway?”

“Cause it wasn't something anyone else was planning on doing for Halloween,” James explained.

“Was the paint not labeled as being toxic?” Lily asked.

Peter shook his head, “It didn't have any labels on it at all.”

“And you used it anyway?” Lily's other friend asked.

Remus shrugged, “It was the only paint we could find.”

James looked at them pleadingly, “Can you guys convince the house elves to save us some of the Halloween treats for when we can actually eat them?”

Lily nodded, “We can do that.”

Alice chuckled and shook her head, “You guys are something else, aren't ya? Did you even think you might miss out on the sweets?”

“We didn't know it would make us sick,” Peter whined.

Alice looked amused, “Alright then.”

“It was fun while it lasted anyway,” James shrugged, “We'll be doing it again next year.”

“We will?” Remus asked.

James nodded slowly so that he didn't make himself even more sick, “Yep!”

“Well, we'll go talk to the house elves,” Lily got to her feet, “Get better.”

“See ya, guys!” Sirius yelled.

“Bye!” James waved after them.

Peter whined out something that may have been a goodbye.

Remus waved weakly.

Lily and her friends waved at them before walking out.

“Well, at least it's lunch time,” Alice shrugged, “so we won't be late for class.”

Lily nodded.

“I'm beginning to think that those four are just going to be in trouble or the hospital so much that they won't actually learn anything,” their other friend commented.

Lily shrugged, “There's not much we can do about that.”

“Wait!”

The three of them turned to see James running towards them. He stopped in front of them, very pale and looking a little green.

Madam Pomfrey came storming out of the hospital wing after him, “James Potter! Get back in here and lay back down!”

James ignored her, “You guys have to make sure that the house elves save some chocolate. And ask them to save cookies. And caramel apples. And cakes. And-”

“We'll just make sure they save a little bit of everything,” Alice interrupted.

“But there has to be more chocolate and cookies and caramel apples than everything else. At least. Because Remus likes chocolate. And Sirius likes cookies and Peter likes caramel apples,” James insisted.

Alice looked amused, “And what do want extra of for you then, Mr. Potter?”

James blinked in surprise, “For me?”

Lily and her other friend looked slightly surprised.

Alice sighed, “So you don't want anything extra for you?”

“Well...cakes I guess,” James shrugged, “I didn't think about it.”

Alice nodded.

Lily turned him around and gently shoved him towards the hospital wing, “We've got it taken care of, Potter. Go back to the hospital wing before Madam Pomfrey gets any angrier with you.” She led her two friends away.

The three of them walked into the kitchen to find the house elves scrambling around, making many many different kinds of sweets.

“Hey guys,” Alice smiled.

“Um...the four boys that poisoned themselves with paint were wondering if you could save them a little bit of everything for when they can actually eat it.”

“Of course. A little bit of everything will be put into the snack cabinet those Young Gryffindors keep taking food from. It will be waiting for them there.”

“You knew about that?” Lily asked curiously.

“Of course. We are not blind, Young Gryffindor.”

“We can understand how they would get hungry and need snacks so we do not tell. They also come ready for conversation that we very much appreciate. Usually only Hufflepuffs interact with us.”

Alice smiled, “I'm sure the boys would much appreciate it. They wanted extra chocolate, extra cake, extra caramel apples, and extra cookies too.”

“Of course.”

“They didn't specify anything more specific than that though,” Lily explained.

“Very well then. Extras it is!”

A younger house elf handed each of the girls a small handful of candies before they left. The three of them returned to the hospital wing.

“They'll be in the snack cabinet when you guys are ready for them,” Lily explained.

The boys nodded, automatically knowing the snack cabinet she was talking about.

“So,” Sirius sat up and shot James a teasing look, “James, here, came in all red when after running after you guys. What happened?”

Lily and her friends exchanged confused glances. Lily looked at James and then at Sirius, “I...don't know?”

James visibly relaxed, “Told you nothing happened.”

“If you two don't stop I will vomit down the backs of your shirts,” Remus threatened in utter annoyance.

James and Sirius made matching noises of disgust.

Alice laughed, “That's kinda gross, Remus.”

“They've been arguing since you guys left,” Peter explained.

Lily didn't look impressed.

The four of them eventually fell asleep about halfway through the night. By the morning they were feeling better. However they were not permitted to leave since they were not fully better. They were better enough to be difficult however.

“Mr. Potter! Mr. Black! Stop jumping on your beds and lie back down this instant!” Madam Pomfrey yelled.

James jumped one last time, landed on his butt and then flopped into a laying down position. He started kicking his feet on his bed. Sirius continued jumping.

Remus and Peter were trying and failing to stifle their laughter, which only encouraged their friends.

Madam Pomfrey put her hands on her hips, “Mr. Black, I am not afraid to bring Professor Mcgonagall in here so that she may keep you in line. You do not want to be the cause of her being unable to teach her classes, do you?”

Sirius stopped jumping. He flopped onto the bed with an over-dramatic sigh.

James sat up, “I'm bored. And hungry. Can we go get those sweets the house elves promised us?”

“No, Mr. Potter. Though I am glad you are feeling better you must spend today eating lightly unless you want to be back where you were yesterday afternoon.”

“But we're fine,” Sirius insisted, “We aren't queasy and we haven't vomited in almost 24 hours.”

Madam Pomfrey firmly stated that they would wait thirty six hours before eating anything resembling sweets.

James and Sirius eventually relented.

While Madam Pomfrey was out having a conversation with Mcgonagall, the four devised a plan to sneak out of the hospital wing at precisely thirty six hours to go get the sweets and some other snacks.

“We'll need to go to our room and get the cloak first,” Remus said.

James nodded, “Yep!”

When Madam Pomfrey returned they were all lying on their backs talking about how utterly bored they were.

“Did you bring food?” Sirius asked.

Madam Pomfrey nodded, “Yes.” She gave them some bread and light soup.

“I wonder what kind of stuff lives in the forest outside,” James commented, glancing out the window.

“Dangerous stuff?” Remus suggested dryly.

“Well obviously, it wouldn't be off limits if it wasn't,” Sirius shrugged.

“I kinda don't wanna know,” Peter admitted quietly.

“I'm sure there's a book on it somewhere,” James insisted. “Right Madam Pomfrey? There is a book on what kind of stuff might be in the forest?”

“There are many books on magical creatures. Though I don't believe there is one detailing the Forbidden Forest specifically.”

“Oh,” James looked surprised.

“It would detail a creatures' habitat though right?” Sirius asked curiously.

Madam Pomfrey nodded, “Yes.”

“It likely wouldn't specifically state 'Forbidden Forest'. The habitat would be listed as being forested areas,” Remus explained.

“Oh,” James nodded.

“Well that's not very helpful for determining what lives in the Forbidden Forest,” Sirius muttered.

“It's probably more helpful than going into it and dying,” Remus shrugged indifferently, “I for one would rather infer based on preferred habitats I saw in a book.”

James grinned, “Madam Pomfrey, can we have some books on creatures so that we can try and infer what lives in the forest?”

Madam Pomfrey got to her feet, “You boys are not to leave the hospital wing while I am gone, do you understand?”

All four of them nodded vigorously.

Madam Pomfrey left.

“Do you guys still have your notepads?” James asked.

All three of his friends pulled the notepads out of their pockets.

“We just need quills and ink,” Remus said.

James looked around, “Um...”

“We can ask Madam Pomfrey,” Peter suggested.

Sirius nodded, “I'm sure she has some.”

James and Remus nodded in agreement.

Madam Pomfrey returned with four books, one for each of them. She also supplied them with quills and ink at their request. She was quite thankful the boys were finally being quiet.

They all gathered on Remus' bed and started taking notes on what they read.

Madam Pomfrey watched them in amusement before asking, “Why can't you boys pay this much attention in class?”

“Our classes are boring,” Sirius responded instantly.

James and Peter nodded in agreement.

Remus shrugged.

Madam Pomfrey sighed but didn't comment.

The four of them spent the rest of the afternoon and all evening looking through the books Madam Pomfrey brought them from the library. They compiled a list of, as well as details about, different creatures that preferred to live in forests. They singled out the ones they hypothesized would be most likely to live in the Forbidden Forest.


	14. The Swear List

“James. Get up,” Remus slammed a pillow into his friend's head, “I swear.” He turned to Sirius' bed to find Sirius had laid back down. Remus shook his head, “Fine. Since you're both so enthusiastic, Peter and I will just meet you in class.” He gently shoved Peter towards the door and ignored James and Sirius as they scrambled to get up and get ready. Peter giggled like mad.

Sirius and James finally caught up to the other two halfway down the stairs, “Wait!”

Remus smirked and turned to face them, “Oh, so I see you finally decided it was worth getting up.”

“You are awful, Remus,” Sirius complained, “You can't just threaten to leave us behind. We're friends. We have to go everywhere together.”

Remus shrugged, “Then get up on time.”

James yawned broadly, “So, I was wondering, it's November. There's no interesting holidays in November. We should make one.”

“How are we going to make a holiday?” Peter asked in confusion.

Remus looked thoughtful, “We'd have to come up with a name for it that isn't ridiculous.”

“Can we even come up with a name that isn't ridiculous?” Sirius asked.

James laughed, “Guess we'll find out.”

“We should brainstorm,” Remus suggested.

James nodded, “And we need to figure out what day it should be.”

“Tomorrow,” Sirius snickered.

Remus shook his head, “We aren't even gonna have a name for it by tomorrow.”

“Ah damn,” Sirius muttered.

“Language, Sirius,” Remus sighed, “I'm going to start charging you guys.”

“What would you do with that money?” Peter asked.

“I'd probably buy something,” Remus shrugged.

“Obviously,” James nodded.

Remus suddenly grinned, “What if...we created a swear jar for Gryffindor?”

“And then the four of us would have access to the money right?” Sirius asked.

Remus nodded, “As long as the staff didn't know about it.”

“But then we could also give the money to a student that needs it for whatever reason,” Peter suggested.

Remus nodded, “Yeah. Mostly ours but if someone needs it we can give them access to it as long as it's not for something bad.”

“Are we even sure this would be a good source of money? I mean how many Gryffindor's swear?” James asked.

A sly smirk painted itself across Remus' face, “You'd be surprised. The older students can get pretty bad about it.”

James and Sirius exchanged glances. James then looked at Remus, “How do you know all of this stuff?”

“I watch people, James. No one ever pays attention to the quiet one,” Remus explained.

James nodded, “Okay, so a swear jar that they have to put money into.”

“What if they don't have money?” Peter asked.

“Then they have to do ten somersaults over the sofa,” James suggested.

“That's dangerous though,” Peter whispered.

“No it's not. It'll be fun,” Sirius insisted.

“And if someone doesn't want to do the somersaults then...” Remus looked at his friends for ideas.

James and Sirius paused.

“Maybe we should talk about this later. We're almost at class,” Peter suggested.

The other three nodded in agreement.

James wrote down his ideas for alternatives to the somersaults down in his notepad. At the end of class he rushed over to his friends, deftly maneuvering around Lily so that he didn't smack into her, “Hey, Lily!” He waved at her as he walked by. He didn't wait to see her reaction before shoving the notepad over to Remus, “Would any of these work for alternatives?”

“James, did you pay attention at all?” Sirius asked teasingly.

James nodded, “Of course I did. Transfiguration is my favorite class in this school.”

Sirius shrugged, “Alright.”

The four of them began heading to their next class.

“James, what does that say?” Remus pointed to the second alternative.

“Oh,” James grinned sheepishly and apologized for his handwriting before answering, “It says consenting to help us out.”

“In our stuff?” Remus asked.

James nodded.

Remus nodded, “That one could really work.” He continued to look down the list. The other alternatives included things like eating every Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans in the package in one sitting and doing James and Sirius' homework for the day. Remus started laughing and shook his head.

“What's so funny?” James asked, “They are all legitimate options!”

“Maybe instead of a swear jar we could do swear activities,” Sirius suggested, “That would be more fun.”

“And then we just create a list of different activities for them to do?” Peter asked.

Sirius and James nodded.

“What would we call it though?” Remus asked, “Because we can't really call it the 'Swear List' because no one will get that.”

“They will once we explain it. Besides, it'll all be great fun,” James insisted.

Remus sighed, “Fine.”

“What about the random November holiday we were gonna make?” Peter asked.

James looked thoughtful and took his notepad back from Remus, “Maybe...something to do with autumn?”

“But fall starts in August,” Remus said, “And it ends in December.”

“So November and October are the middle of autumn,” James nodded.

“Mid-Autumn Celebration Day,” Peter suggested.

“That's obvious though,” Sirius complained.

“In this instance I think we would want obvious,” Remus explained, “Because it leaves no doubt to what's going on.”

Sirius pouted.

“So what day is Mid-Autumn Celebration Day?” James asked.

“Tomorrow,” Sirius said.

“Well technically the real day that would mark the middle of autumn would be sometime in September or October,” Remus said.

“Shit,” Sirius muttered.

Remus handed Sirius James' notepad, “Pick an activity to do, Sirius.”

Sirius grinned, “Alright.” He looked through the list, “I'm gonna sing everything I say next class.”

“Oh no,” Remus muttered.

James and Peter giggled in anticipation. James took his notepad back. On a new page he wrote down Mid-Autumn Celebration Day.

Next class Sirius really did sing everything he said.

Professor Flitwick was horribly confused as to why he was doing it.

“Because I accidentally said a bad word,” Sirius explained, horribly off-key.

Remus shoved his notebook into Sirius' face before he explained anymore in his purposefully awful singing voice.

“Can you actually sing, though Sirius?” Peter asked curiously.

Sirius looked slightly angry suddenly and snapped, “Of course not. Why would I?”

None of his friends told him he hadn't sung that one. Sirius quickly went back to his cheerful bad singing however. Often times the entire class would crack up. It was a horrible distraction but Flitwick didn't seem to mind terribly much.

The four left class, laughing hysterically. It would probably encourage James and Sirius to curse but the activities were extremely entertaining.

At lunch they continued to expand their list of “punishments” for their Swear List.

A second year Gryffindor muttered curses under their breath when they noticed there wasn't any bread left near them.

The four exchanged excited glances.

James confidently approached them with the list of activities, “Hi. I'm James Potter.”

“Um...hi, James.”

James handed them his notepad, “This is the Swear List. You have to pick an activity for saying a bad word.”

The second year looked horrifically confused but looked through the list. Once they had finished looking through it they looked even more confused, “Um...what?”

“Pick an activity,” James said.

They glanced at their friends uncertainly before finally saying, “I'll-uh. I'll eat the every flavor beans I guess.”

James nodded and noted it down, “We'll bring you some this evening.” He got to his feet and walked back to his friends.

“They're gonna eat the beans,” Sirius laughed.

James nodded excitedly, “Yep.”

That evening they presented the second year with the beans. The second year chuckled, “I didn't think you guys would remember this.”

“Of course we remembered,” James grinned. He joined his friends on the sofa and watched the second year grab a handful of the beans and toss them into her mouth at the same time. Her eyes narrowed with disgust but she continued to eat them by the handful.

The four of them watched, their eyes getting wider and wider with awe. She finished the container quickly and it wasn't until then that she expressed the extent of her disgust, coughing and shaking her head. Everyone in the common room was quite impressed with her.

James started laughing, “Holy crap!”

“That was awesome!” Sirius whispered.

Remus whistled softly while Peter remained silently stunned.

She stuck her tongue out, “That was awful. I hope you four are satisfied.”

“That was great!” They all nodded in unison.

“This is way better than the money jar idea!” James grinned.

The other three voiced their agreement.

Their fellow Gryffindors looked amazed.

“These kids are gonna be in so much trouble,” one whispered.

“Only if we get caught,” James winked at them. He dragged his friends up to their room. The moment the door closed he said, “We need more ideas!”

Peter hurried over to his food stash, “We need snacks first though.”

“Yes,” James and Sirius said in unison.

Remus grinned.

“Everybody still has their notepads right?” James asked.

His friends nodded.

“Good,” James flopped onto his bed. Peter sat next to him. Remus and Sirius sat next to each other on Sirius' bed.

“So, how crazy do we want to get with these ideas?” Remus asked.

“All out,” Sirius nodded.

James agreed, “Anything goes!”

Remus started laughing, “Alright.”

“And we should let other houses join if they want to,” Peter suggested, “Because it would cool to see what kind of prank a Ravenclaw could come up with.”

“Or if a Hufflepuff would helps us steal snacks,” James nodded.

“Okay, we need to add stealing snacks to the list,” Sirius said.

James wrote it down.

“Do you think maybe Remus or Sirius should write the final list?” Peter suggested, “They have really pretty handwriting.”

James pouted, “What's wrong with my handwriting?”

“Nothing!” Peter said quickly.

“Everything,” Sirius said. He and Remus exchanged glances and shrugged at each other before turning matching smirks to James.

James tossed his pillow at his friends indignantly, “Seriously!? My handwriting is not that bad!”

“Completely Sirius,” Sirius grinned.

Remus tossed the pillow back.

James stuck his tongue out at his friends, “You guys are impossible!”

Sirius and Remus started laughing. James and Peter joined in quickly.

“Alright. So, we've added stealing snacks.”

“What about following a good friend around under my invisibility cloak?” James asked.

“And doing weird stuff to mess with them,” Sirius grinned, “Like moving their ink quill when they're not looking!”

James nodded enthusiastically and wrote it down.

“Maybe, for like the older ones we could do one where they have to ask someone they don't know to play a game with them?” Peter suggested.

“What kind of games?” Remus asked.

“Maybe leave that up to the person that chooses it?” Sirius suggested.

“And one or more of us accompanies them under the invisibility cloak just to make sure they actually do it?” James suggested.

Remus nodded, “Yeah.”

“Or maybe, try to get Miss Evans to agree to do something against the rules,” Sirius suggested.

Instantly James wrote it down.

“What about picking a spell randomly out of a book and attempting it?” Remus suggested.

“Ooo!” James grinned, “That would be so much fun!”

“It would have to be a book that has spells of our ability level though,” Remus added.

James added that to the idea.

“We could do 'try to pet Professor Mcgonagall while she's a cat' because that would be funny.”

“Nobody will do it though,” Peter pointed out.

“I would!” James said instantly. He wrote it down.

Remus stared at his friend like he'd lost his mind, “You would?!”

James nodded, “Yeah. I'd only get detention. It would fun.”

“Okay,” Remus sighed. Nothing James said or did really should surprise him anymore.

Eventually they started running out of ideas. They sat in silence for twenty minutes wracking their minds for something new to add to their list.

“Maybe we could ask some of the other students?” Sirius suggested.

“Since they're going to be participating in it,” Remus nodded.

James nodded. The four of them took the notepad, the quill and the ink and went down to the common room. It was still full of some of the older kids. Without hesitating James and Sirius started interrogating the closest person.

This went on until everyone had gone to bed. Sirius, James, Peter, and Remus stayed up, compiling the list. Remus wrote it because Sirius didn't want to. James had agreed to let Remus do it.

“What if we came up with a name for our group?” Sirius asked after they had finally gone to bed close to one in the morning.

“Sirius, can you please wait until morning?” Remus asked.

Sirius rolled his eyes, “Sure. It could wait till morning but I don't want it to.” His response was unusually cutting.

Remus sat up and looked at Sirius worriedly.

“Are you alright, Sirius?” James asked, “You're not usually like this.”

“I'm fine,” Sirius insisted.

James and Remus exchanged glances. The two of them stayed up until after Sirius had fallen asleep.

“Remus, are you still awake?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“I want to go talk to Professor Mcgonagall,” James explained.

Remus sat up again, “Why?”

James sat up and took a long look at Sirius, “I don't know. Maybe she hasn't noticed what's going on with Sirius but I think she really should know. I mean she's awesome and maybe she'll be able to help.”

Remus nodded and pulled off his blankets, “Alright.”

The two of them climbed under the invisibility cloak and very quietly left their room. They were quiet as they made their way to Mcgonagall's office.

Their professor was still awake even at the ungodly hour it was.

James pulled the cloak off of them and knocked on her office door, “Professor?”

Mcgonagall stared at them in surprise, “What are you two doing out of bed right now?”

“Well...” Remus looked at James.

“We noticed that Sirius seemed upset lately,” James explained, “And we were wondering if you knew how we could maybe help him.”

“Or if maybe you could help him if we can't,” Remus added.

Mcgonagall sighed. Her face softened somewhat, “First of all, you both will be getting detention for this tomorrow.”

They both nodded.

“That's fine Professor,” James nodded in acceptance.

Mcgonagall nodded, “And I will see what I can do for Mr. Black.”

James and Remus nodded, “Thank you Professor.”

“Good night,” James waved as they left her office.

“Good night you two. At least try to sleep,” Mcgonagall said sternly.

They nodded. Once they were out of sight they slid back under the cloak and hurried back to their dorm. Neither of their friends had woken up while they were gone. Remus and James climbed back into bed but both found it very difficult to sleep.

The next day Remus got Sirius and Peter up while James started getting ready. They carried around their activity list with them and listened intently to see if any of their housemates let out a curse word. About halfway through the day, finally, a kid in their year, and one of Lily's friends, slipped up in the class after lunch.

Sirius plopped himself down next to her, “Marlene right?”

She looked up in surprise, “Yes.”

“Hi, I'm Sirius, in case you didn't know,” Sirius handed her the rolled piece of parchment, “This is the Swear List. Since you said a bad word you have to pick an activity from the list. And if you have any suggestions for activities we are all ears.”

“Seriously?” Marlene didn't look enthusiastic.

“Dead Sirius,” Sirius smirked.

James snickered.

“You get to choose the activity though,” Sirius shoved the parchment closer, “Take a look and pick one.”

Marlene looked from him to the paper and back again before finally taking it. She unrolled it and looked it over. She looked half impressed. She spent a long while before saying, “I'll help you guys with your next prank.”

Sirius' entire face lit up, “Alright!” He took the paper back and skipped over to his friends, “She's gonna help us out!”

James started bouncing up and down excitedly, “YES!”

“Oh no,” a fifth year near them muttered.

James stuck his tongue out at him, “So. That means we have to get to work immediately after class.” He led his friends over to her, Alice, and Lily the moment they were dismissed, “Madam Mckinnon!”

She turned to look at them in surprise, “Yes?”

“We welcome you into our plans,” James spread his arms wide with a Cheshire Cat-like grin. He relaxed quickly, “We are beginning our planning immediately, now that class is over.”

Marlene raised her eyebrows, “Um...in case you've forgotten, Potter, there are two classes left.”

James shrugged, “So? C'mon! You promised you'd help.”

Alice shrugged, “We'll come up with something for you.” She gently shoved Marlene towards the boys, “Have fun.”

Marlene shook her head, “Alright. Alright.” She looked at her friend, “You're awful. You're just encouraging them.”

Alice winked at her.

Lily shrugged.

James grinned excitedly and led her and his friends away. They walked into the Gryffindor common room, “So. Any ideas?”

Marlene stared at, “You didn't say you wanted us brainstorming on the way here.”

James looked confused, “Oh. Okay then.” He pulled out his notepad, “First we need a name for this Operation.”

“Operation Five,” Marlene said.

James shrugged and wrote it down.

“We should spike a drink with something weird.”

“No,” Marlene said instantly, “That is an awful idea.”

James and Sirius looked partially offended at the remark. They looked at each other and shrugged, “We'll do it ourselves later, then.”

“Thanks for the warning,” Marlene muttered.

“She's almost as good at sarcasm as Remus,” Sirius whispered.

The four boys laughed.

Marlene glanced at them before continuing to stare into the fire thoughtfully, “We could...”

“We could?” James repeated.

“First and foremost, what are our assets?” Marlene asked.

“Assets?” Sirius repeated in confusion.

“Um...” James paused, “Well I have an invisibility cloak. Remus is a genius. Sirius is obnoxious. Peter's small and no one notices him. Five minds are better than one?”

“Sirius being obnoxious is an asset?” Marlene repeated in confusion.

James nodded.

“It makes for great distractions,” Sirius grinned proudly.

Marlene nodded, “What else?”

“We're friends with the house elves and the Fat Lady,” Remus said, “And Mcgonagall isn't likely to give us anything more than detention.”

“Remus knows the rules like the back of his hand,” Peter added.

“And Peter and Remus have _great_ poker faces!” Sirius added enthusiastically.

Marlene nodded, “Alright. Here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna sneak into the kitchen. Then we'll convince the house elves to allow us to bewitch dinner so that it is all...purple.”

“Purple?” James looked at his friends. They all started nodding, “Okay! Purple it is!”

Remus smirked, “And because the house elves allowed us to, technically the only thing we'll get in trouble for is skipping classes.”

Marlene nodded, “You're not the only one that knows the rules, Lupin.” She winked at the boys.

“I'll go get my cloak,” James said.

“Are five people gonna fit under it?” Peter asked.

“Well, if not, You or Remus can walk outside of it, saying you are using the toilets or something,” Sirius shrugged, “Since you guys have the best pokerfaces known to the wizarding world.”

Peter nodded, “Okay.”

James came back with his cloak. The five of them could fit under it but was a very tight squeeze. They put Peter outside of it. His job was a very important one. He needed to convince the world that the others were not even there. His given excuse was that he was headed to Madam Pomfrey because he felt sick.


	15. When Everything's Funny

James and Sirius hadn't been able to stop laughing, instantly giving them away. After a couple of minutes Peter started too.

Marlene looked at Remus, “I thought you guys said Peter had a good pokerface?”

“He does,” Remus nodded. He motioned to James and Sirius, “When those two aren't laughing.”

Marlene rolled her eyes, “Great. Professor Mcgonagall is coming.”

“You might as well get in trouble with us,” Remus shrugged, “Detention isn't so bad if you don't have to do it alone.”

“Alright.”

Remus got to his feet and pulled up James. Sirius and Peter followed. Marlene followed the four of them as they met Mcgonagall halfway through the Great Hall.

“Professor!” James smiled happily.

“We didn't technically break any rules,” Sirius insisted. He showed Remus forward gently.

Remus swallowed and explained, “Other than the fact that we skipped two classes to do it at least. We went down to the kitchens and asked the house elves for permission, Professor. We only did it because they agreed.”

Mcgonagall looked exasperated, “To my office, you five.”

They followed her through the castle.

After a lecture about the importance of their classes Mcgonagall looked at Sirius, Peter, and Marlene. “The three of you can join these two,” Professor Mcgonagall motioned to Remus and James, “in their assigned detention.”

Sirius looked at James and Remus in surprise, “When did you guys get detention?”

“We were caught out after hours getting snacks last night,” James explained.

Remus nodded a little too quickly but only Marlene noticed it.

“We didn't succeed though,” James added.

Sirius started laughing, “Wow.”

The five of them were assigned the task of helping organize the pots and plants in the Herbology green house. They also had to help transfer plants as well as planting new plants.

“Seeing everyone's faces was so worth it,” James grinned.

Remus shook his head, “We're going to be washing dirt out from under our fingernails for days.”

“Still worth it,” James and Sirius said in unison.

Marlene shook her head, “If not for James' and Sirius' maniacal cackling the moment they walked in, we could've avoided all of this.” She sounded amused.

The five of them returned to the common room around seven in the evening.

The moment they entered Alice started laughing, “I can't believe you guys turned dinner purple!”

James shrugged, “The house elves said it was fine.”

“We just got detention for skipping class,” Sirius explained.

Marlene playfully shoved James, “And if not for this one cracking up the moment we walked in we would've been safe from the lecture we got from Mcgonagall.”

“I wasn't the only one that was laughing!” James responded.

“You're the one that started the chain reaction,” Marlene pointed out.

“It was great though!” Sirius insisted.

“Once Remus explained we'd gotten permission she looked so defeated,” James started laughing, “It was funny.”

“Still gave us detention though,” Peter admitted.

“We skipped class. We would've gotten it anyway,” Remus shrugged indifferently.

“I at least had an excuse,” Marlene sighed. She sat down next to Lily on the sofa.

Lily laughed quietly.

The boys went up to their dorm.

“She's really good at coming up with plans,” Sirius admitted.

James nodded.

“Maybe we should plan ours better,” Remus suggested, “Because she took into consideration everything we could do. We just kind of come up with something and then hope we can actually pull it off.”

James nodded, “So, if we're going to spike the drinks with something we'll have to start paying attention in potions.”

Remus nodded.

James pouted, “I hate potions.”

“Not all of us have to pay attention though,” Sirius pointed out.

“What if we all paid attention to a couple things specifically?” Peter suggested.

James and Sirius exchanged glances and grinned.

“You, Peter Pettigrew, are a complete genius,” Sirius said.

Peter looked surprised, “Really?”

James, Sirius, and Remus nodded instantly, without pausing to even think about it.

Peter smiled happily, “Thanks guys!”

“Okay,” Remus pulled out his notepad, “What are we all gonna focus on?”

“I'll do Transfiguration!” James said instantly.

Remus nodded. He wrote down each of his friends' names and then his own, leaving some space between each name. He wrote Transfiguration next to James.

They were quiet for a while.

“I think I could do Charms,” Sirius suggested. He sounded uncertain, “I'm not quite good at them though.”

“Well, if you're focusing on Charms and one, maybe two, other things then you'll have plenty of time to practice it,” Remus said. He wrote Charms next to Sirius.

“Oh!” James grinned suddenly, “We can help each other with our work like this too!”

Remus nodded, “Yeah.”

“I wanna do Astronomy,” Peter said enthusiastically.

Remus nodded and wrote it down next to Peter.

“What are you gonna do, Remus?” Sirius asked.

Remus looked at his friends, “I'll do potions. Since you three are hopeless.”

The other three chuckled sheepishly.

“I'm gonna do flying!” James grinned.

Remus wrote it down.

“Flying?” Sirius asked curiously.

James nodded, “I'm gonna play Quidditch. First years aren't allowed to play on their house team but next year I'm totally doing it!”

“Since when did those kinds of rules stop you?” Sirius asked teasingly.

James stuck his tongue out, “Since there's no real way around the rule.”

Sirius nodded, “Alright then.”

“I think I could maybe do Herbology?” Peter sounded kind of scared.

Remus nodded, “Alright. Herbology it is.”

“Do you wanna do Defense Against the Dark Arts?” Sirius asked Remus.

Remus shrugged, “I don't have a particular preference.”

Sirius rolled his eyes, “Neither do I though. And neither of those two can do three.”

“I can do it,” Remus shrugged again, “It's fine.”

“Okay,” Sirius shrugged.

Remus wrote it down by his name.

“How is your handwriting so pretty?” James asked curiously.

“Magic,” Remus answered instantly in a completely deadpan voice.

His friends burst out laughing.

Remus tried to keep his face straight but he couldn't. He shook his head, “You guys are impossible.”

“That's my line,” James pouted.

“It's our friendship motto,” Sirius corrected.

James laughed.

“Sure, whenever we're exasperated with each other,” Remus shrugged.

James looked through his notepad. “Oh yeah! Mid-Autumn Celebration Day.”

“When is that again?” Sirius asked.

“November fifteenth,” Remus responded.

“Okay,” James shrugged.

“That's thirteen days away,” Sirius complained.

“I just threw out a random date,” Remus shrugged.

“What do you think then?” James asked.

Sirius shrugged, “Maybe the tenth. That's closer.”

“Okay,” James nodded.

Remus shrugged, “Tenth sounds good.”

“Tenth it is!” James grinned. He wrote it down. “Do we have any other ideas for the Swear List?”

Remus shook his head.

The other three looked at each other blankly.

James sighed in disappointment, “Alright.” He shoved his notepad under his pillow.

Remus turned to a new page in his notepad, “What are we going to spike a drink with?”

“Something funny,” James responded.

“Like…?” Remus prompted.

“Something that makes people cough ducks,” Sirius suggested.

“That sounds more like a hex than something that can be done with a potion,” James said.

Sirius grinned, “We can make our own spell!”

“We're working on our own potion right now,” Remus said. He looked at Sirius, “Write that one down in your notepad so that we don't forget.”

Sirius nodded.

James smiled. His friends were finally referring to the notepads he'd given them like they belonged to them. They had been gifts and that generally means that they don't belong to the giver anymore.

“What if we made something that makes people's skin change color because of their mood?” Peter asked.

Remus wrote it down as an idea, “That would be cool. I think it would also be challenging.”

“Is that a good thing?” Peter asked nervously.

Remus nodded, “Yes.”

“Maybe we should see what kind of potions already exist?” James said.

“Probably,” Remus said expressionlessly.

His friends giggled.

“At the same time we need an idea of what we're gonna do, don't we?” Sirius asked.

The other three nodded.

“We'll brainstorm ideas and then we'll narrow it down based on what's actually possible, and then we'll start testing ingredients,” Remus decided.

James nodded, “And when we need ingredients we'll use my invisibility cloak and borrow them.”

The other three nodded.

“I'm hungry,” Peter said suddenly, “Are you guys hungry?”

“YES!” Sirius and James followed Peter over to his bed.

Remus sighed.

“Do you want chocolate or crackers, Remus?”

“Crackers please,” Remus responded.

Peter handed him the crackers and sat next to him.

Sirius and James sat together on James' bed.

“So far we've got mood color coordinated skin,” Remus said.

“What about something that causes people to make a different animal noise when they try to talk?” Sirius suggested.

Remus wrote it down.

“We aren't gonna be able to do this this year, are we?” James asked.

Remus shook his head, “Oh no. This is a multi-year project.”

“What year do you estimate?” Sirius asked.

Remus was silent for a couple moments. Finally he said, “Fourth. Mid-third year at the earliest but I think it'll be fourth year before we can successfully do it without poisoning anyone.”

The other three nodded.

“What other multi-year projects could we do?” James wondered.

Remus shrugged, “Maybe just focus on one at a time. That way we don't lose track.”

James nodded.

The four of them stayed up all night brainstorming ideas for different potions they could make that would have funny effects. They didn't realize how late it was until sunlight started to stream in through the single window.

Sirius stared at the light, “Well, so much for sleep.”

Peter giggled.

Remus looked at his three friends, “Today is gonna be rough.” All three of them looked exhausted but if their personalities were anything to go off of today would be filled with endless fits of laughter.

James stood up and stretched.

Sirius poked his stomach.

James curled up and fell back onto his bed.

The four of them started laughing.

James fell asleep in their first class. Sirius would not stop laughing, which would always pull Peter into a laughing fit. Remus tried desperately to focus but, between James' light snoring and Sirius and Peter's barely stifled laughter, it was close to impossible. Tired as he was it was hard to resist being pulled along with Sirius and Peter.

Sirius decided that, since James was not waking up, they could just carry him from class to class. It didn't quite work out according to plan. The three of them that were still awake ended up on a hallway floor laughing hysterically.

James was lying on the same hallway floor, still asleep.

Sirius and Peter couldn't breathe. They were rolling on the floor.

Remus was sitting, holding his head in his hands, and shaking with laughter.

“And what would be so funny?”

Remus lifted his head.

James snored.

Sirius and Peter laughed harder.

Professor Dumbledore was standing nearby with an amused glint in his eye.

Remus got to his feet, trying desperately to ignore Sirius and Peter. “Sorry, Professor. We didn't sleep last night.” He fought back a laugh before continuing, “No one thing is funny. We're just tired.”

Professor Dumbledore woke up James.

James was startled but almost instantly started laughing.

Remus laughed.

If Sirius and Peter laughed any more they'd start turning blue.

Dumbledore led the four first years into his office. He snapped his fingers and four stacks of papers appeared. “Pick a stack and organize it by color.”

Remus looked at him in confusion.

The four of them sat down by a single stack.

The top paper had the word yellow written in green ink.

“Which color, Professor?” James giggled.

“Whichever color you choose.”

The four of them exchanged glances and started laughing again.

“Ah.” Dumbledore interrupted, “Organize the papers.”

The four of them attempted to shut off their laughing and started sifting through the papers.

Remus and Sirius decided to organize them by color that the word was written in.

James and Peter organized it by the color the word said.

By the time they got through all the papers in the stacks they had missed two and a half classes. However, the four of them were calm, focused, and quiet.

“Now, go to your dorm and get some sleep,” Dumbledore said gently.

The four of them nodded and left.

Peter fell asleep, nearly the moment his head hit his pillow. Sirius pulled his blanket over him before sitting on his bed quietly.

James yawned and laid on his back, “Professor Dumbledore is weird.”

Sirius started to laugh.

“C'mon Sirius,” Remus smirked, “Keep it together. It took forever for us to stop laughing.”

Sirius started to laugh harder.

James sat up suddenly, “What if we made a laughing potion?”

Remus and Sirius stared at him. Remus grabbed his notepad out of his dresser and wrote it down, “That's genius.”

“Laughter is contagious,” James grinned.

“Okay, so the potion should need a trigger,” Sirius said, “Like it doesn't take affect until they start laughing.”

“So then we set up something funny,” James grinned excitedly.

“And then everything will be funny after that,” Remus nodded. For having neat handwriting he wrote quite quickly.

“And it'll be a chain reaction. When one person laughs, eventually other people will be laughing.”

“Alright,” Remus nodded.

“After we get some sleep, we'll assign duties,” James said.

Sirius and Remus nodded.

The three of them laid down and quickly fell asleep.


	16. Mid-Autumn Celebration Day

“So Remus is gonna be in charge of making the potion and finding the recipe,” James paced in front of his bed.

Remus wrote that down on his notepad.

“Peter and Sirius will take turns stealing the ingredients Remus needs,” James said, “I'll be in charge of making sure the teachers don't suspect. And we'll all be test subjects.”

“Shouldn't you and Peter switch roles James?” Remus asked, “You don't have a poker face.”

James pouted, “How am I supposed to get better if I don't practice?”

“Maybe practice with things that aren't likely to get us expelled if you fail?” Remus suggested dryly.

James chuckled, “Alright. Yeah. So Peter will be in charge of making sure the teachers don't suspect. And Sirius and I will steal the ingredients you need.”

Remus nodded and wrote it down.

“And all four of us will do the necessary research,” Sirius added.

The other three nodded in agreement.

“While we're working on this we'll want to plan and execute other pranks too, to keep everyone's attention off of this one until we're ready,” Remus suggested.

James nodded, “So, on November tenth we'll be celebrating Mid-Autumn Celebration Day.”

“What exactly does that entail?” Remus asked.

“Um...” James looked at Peter and Sirius questioningly.

“We skip class,” Sirius said, “And we go outside and we collect leaves.”

“What are we gonna do with the leaves?” Peter asked curiously.

“We're gonna make stuff out of them,” James said.

Remus looked confused.

“Like flower crowns. But with multicolored leaves instead,” Sirius said.

“O...kay?” Remus shrugged, “Sounds like a plan.”

“And then after that we'll begin preparing for our next prank,” James declared.

The other three nodded in agreement.

“Ugh,” Remus looked out the window the morning of Mid-Autumn Celebration Day. It was cloudy and sleet was drizzling from the sky.

“We're going out anyway,” Sirius insisted, “We'll just have to find something else to do.”

The four of them slid out of the common room before their housemates were even waking up for classes. They slid under the invisibility cloak and left the castle. They went into the Forbidden Forest.

“I can't believe we thought this was a good idea,” Remus muttered under his breath.

James shrugged, “It's done now.” He pulled the invisibility cloak off of everyone and wrapped it around his arm.

“The Forbidden Forest is really the only place to find leaves.”

“We can't even look for leaves anymore because they're all sopping wet,” Remus muttered.

“Remus is part cat guys, pass it on,” James teased.

Remus threw a handful of dirt at his friend. He laughed, “Shut up James.”

James threw a handful of dirt back at Remus, “Make me!”

“How dare you attack my friend!” Sirius yelled dramatically.

James put on an over exaggerated show of being hurt, “I thought we were friends!” He smiled.

Sirius threw dirt at James.

“Not James!” Peter dramatically came to James' defense.

Remus wiped mud down Peter's back.

Sirius shoved mud into James' face.

James spat some mud on the ground, “Ugh. That does not taste good.”

They all laughed.

James rubbed some mud in Sirius' hair.

Sirius pretended to be angered, “That's my lovely hair! I just cleaned it last night!”

Peter threw a ball of dirt at Remus. Remus managed to dodge it and tried to catch Peter. He caught Peter's arm but the smaller boy quickly slid out of Remus' grasp. It left mud slicked down Peter's arm.

James and Sirius were nearly all out brawling in the mud in a matter of moments. Remus and Peter were trying to catch each other, with a good amount of difficulty. James pulled free of Sirius and jumped onto Remus' back. Remus managed to catch him and keep from falling, despite the slippery mud. James started rubbing his muddy face against the side of Remus' head. He was promptly dropped. James squeaked as he fell to the ground.

Sirius took the opportunity and dragged James through the mud. James pretended to struggle and called for help.

Peter attempted to pass Remus while he was doing his best to wipe the mud from his face. Remus managed to catch Peter before he could reach James. Peter wriggled free.

James and Sirius wrestled in the mud.

Peter and Remus continued to chase each other around a handful of trees trying to catch the other without being caught themselves.

“What do you four think you're doing out here?!”

All four boys stopped and looked up.

Professor Mcgonagall was striding towards them, unhindered despite the mud.

James chuckled nervously and got to his feet.

Sirius followed and pressed one last bit of mud into his friend's shoulder.

James glanced at him and grinned before looking back at Mcgonagall.

Remus and Peter exchanged uneasy glances. Remus stepped forward, “Well, Professor, we decided it would be best to take a break because we were all getting stressed out with all of our classes.”

“We called it Mid-Autumn Celebration Day,” James added.

Remus gave him slightly quelling look.

James smiled sheepishly and laughed.

Remus turned his attention back to Professor Mcgonagall. She had one eyebrow raised and a hard disapproving gaze.

Sirius started to laugh, though he desperately tried to hide it.

Remus glanced at him and rolled his eyes, “I'm sorry Professor.”

“The four of you have detention for the rest of the week,” Mcgonagall said sternly, “Get back to the common room, clean yourselves up, and then go straight to class. No detours. Is that understood?”

“Yes Professor.” All four of them nodded earnestly.

“Did you like the name of our holiday at least?” James asked, “We purposefully made it obvious.”

Mcgonagall met his gaze, “It would've been the perfect name if it was mid-autumn and not closer to winter.” She motioned for them to walk ahead of her.

The four of them walked ahead of her.

“Detention for a week,” Peter looked at James and then Sirius and then Remus, “What are we gonna do for a week?”

“Whatever the professors assign us I guess,” Sirius shrugged.

“You guys are impossible,” Remus muttered.

“You love us anyway,” James grinned.

Remus shook his head, “Sure.”

James pouted, “Remus doesn't love us guys.”

“Of course he doesn't,” Sirius didn't seem perturbed at all. He smirked, “We're ruining his perfect reputation.”

Remus laughed.

It didn't take long for the other three to join in.

Mcgonagall watched them in mixed amusement and exasperation. The four of them were nearly completely unfazed by the fact that they were indeed in trouble. They were still joking around and teasing each other. She shook her head. The next six years were going to be interesting to say the least.

James found himself staring at the wall in utter boredom. It was their second day of detention and the professor had stuck them in different corners of the room and told them to focus on a singular object in front of them. Of course this was after they had finished their assigned task of cleaning the room's floor all too quickly.

Sirius started laughing.

James tried halfheartedly to ignore him before cracking up for no real reason.

Peter quickly followed.

James noticed Remus shaking and trying not to smile. “C'mon Remus! You know you want to!” He yelled across the room.

Remus almost broke but managed to keep it together.

“Be quiet, boys.”

“Sorry Professor,” James responded. He didn't sound particularly apologetic but at least he was quiet. He started making faces at Sirius in an attempt to get him to laugh.

Sirius fought it with everything he had but it didn't take long for him to laugh.

James motioned to Peter with his head. Both he and Sirius started making faces at Peter. It took maybe thirty seconds for Peter to start laughing uncontrollably.

“Professor,” Remus got to his feet and walked up to the desk, “I was wondering if I could get a book from the library really quickly.”

“You can get it on your way back to your common room.”

Remus nodded. He returned to his seat and put his head on his arms so that he wouldn't have to watch what he knew was coming. Even so he could almost feel the faces his three friends were making at him. He shook his head but refused to laugh.

James and Sirius took it as a challenge. The started trying harder to make Remus laugh out loud.

Remus continued to shake his head but still refused to laugh out loud.

When detention was finally over Sirius playfully shoved Remus on their way out the door, “C'mon! We were trying to make you laugh and all you did was shake your head!”

Remus started laughing, “You guys turned it into a game. Of course I wasn't going to lose.”

“That means we lost,” James pouted, “Man! But I like winning!”

“Really James?”

James nodded enthusiastically.

His friends laughed.

They hurried up to their room where they continued brainstorming ideas for a possible prank they would do sometime later in November or early in December.

“Good morning, you four,” Lucius sneered. He leaned over Sirius threateningly, “I'm sure the Ancient and Noble House of Black won't be happy to hear of the trouble you've caused.”

Sirius' eyes flashed angrily, “Maybe you should keep your arrogant little nose out of other people's business, huh Malfoy?” His voice was low and threatening.

“Sirius?” James and Remus exchanged worried glances.

“I'm simply trying to help,” Lucius shrugged, “Students will be heading home for the holidays soon. I doubt it'll be pleasant for you but that is not my concern.”

“Leave Sirius alone,” James hissed angrily.

Lucius gave James a dark disapproving look, “I'm simply reminding Mr. Black that his fate lies not in his own hands.”

Sirius' fists clenched by his sides. He took a deep breath in an attempt to calm down.

“Leave him alone, Malfoy,” James repeated.

Lucius narrowed his eyes, “Give it up, Potter. You two aren't going to be friends for much longer so you might as well start letting Mr. Black go now. After the holidays you won't be able to speak with him.”

“Shut up!” Sirius yelled, “James, Peter, Remus, and I are going to stay friends and there's nothing anybody can say about! I don't give a damn about my family! And I certainly don't care what you have to say about it, you stupid piece of scum, Malfoy!”

“Sirius Black,” Mcgonagall called from down the hall, “Come with me, please.”

Sirius turned to her, nearly at the point of hyperventilating.

James rushed up to her, “Please don't get mad at-”

“I am not angry with him, Mr. Potter. You can calm down,” Mcgonagall interrupted.

James relaxed.

Mcgonagall looked at Lucius, “I would suggest you make your way to breakfast, Mr. Malfoy.”

“Of course, Professor,” Lucius turned on his heel and strode confidently away.

Sirius reluctantly followed Professor Mcgonagall as she led him away.

Peter stared after them, terror plain on his face.

James grabbed Peter's shoulder and turned him around, “We better get to breakfast too. Sirius will be okay.”

Remus nodded, “We'll be sure to get his favorite cookies on the way back to the common room during lunch.”

Peter nodded uncertainly, “If you guys are sure.”

“Are you mad at me, Professor?” Sirius asked quietly as he sat down beside her desk.

“Not at all,” Mcgonagall shook her head. “Tea?”

Sirius shrugged, “I don't particularly care.”

She set down a cup in front of him, “Is there anything you want to talk about? Anything at all?”

“I...” Sirius remained silent for a long time. He shifted in his seat constantly and constantly repositioned his sleeves. He pushed them up past his elbow only to pull them back down a few seconds later. He clenched and unclenched his fists uncomfortably and fought back the tears that burned his eyes, “I hate it. That stupid Malfoy jerk wasn't wrong. My parents are going to be so angry with me. Not only that I'm Gryffindor but that I'm friends with Remus and James and Peter. That I don't know their blood status and that I don't care.”

Mcgonagall nodded, “What you said, Sirius, can be true.”

“Huh?” Sirius looked at her in confusion.

“You said that the four of you would remain friends no matter what anyone said about it. That statement is as true as you wish to make it. In the end it is you who decides who your friends are.”

Sirius studied her face uncertainly, “Is that why I was placed in Gryffindor, Professor?”

“That question is better for Dumbledore or the Sorting Hat itself,” Mcgonagall answered. She smiled, “But if I had to hazard a guess it would at least be part of it.”

Sirius took a sip of the tea, “James said he wanted to play Quidditch next year.”

“Did he?” Mcgonagall raised an eyebrow.

Sirius nodded, “I don't really want to but it would be fun to cheer him on.”

Mcgonagall nodded, “I'm sure it would be.”

“Professor, do I really have to go home for the holidays?” Sirius asked.

Mcgonagall shook her head, “No. There are students that stay here for the holidays for whatever reason.”

Sirius nodded, “So...I can stay here?”

Mcgonagall nodded, “Yes.”

“Can you keep calling me Sirius instead of...by my surname?”

Mcgonagall paused for a moment. She was silent before finally nodding, “I don't see why that can't be done.”

Sirius looked very obviously relieved. He looked uncertain again, “Am I gonna get in trouble for yelling at Malfoy?”

Mcgonagall shook her head, “Mr. Malfoy antagonized the situation. As long as you do not have an outburst like that that was not provoked then you are not technically in the wrong.”

Sirius nodded, “How long am I supposed to stay here?”

“Until you finish your tea,” Mcgonagall nodded to the cup.

“Am I gonna get in trouble with Professor Slughorn for being late to potions?” Sirius asked.

Mcgonagall shook her head, “No. I will be accompanying you into class.”

Sirius looked around, “Professor, how come you can turn into a cat?”

“I am what you call an Animagus. I have the ability to transform into that one form. It's quite a complicated and dangerous process to become one,” Mcgonagall answered.

Sirius stared at her in awe, “Really? And you succeeded? How hard was it?!”

“It is a delicate process that can take years,” Mcgonagall answered, “So it was extremely hard.”

Sirius continued to talk with Professor Mcgonagall until he was calm and relaxed. At that point she had him finish his tea and then walked him to class. He sat with James, Peter, and Remus, same as usual.


	17. Almost The Holidays

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So...I'm really not good at writing in...dialects I guess you could say. I realize that each character should have their own way of speaking and that I'm literally messing up some things by writing everything in more formal...I guess English but for whatever reason I can't write more natural flowing speech. I say this because Hagrid is in this chapter and his dialogue is gonna be written nothing like how it is in the Harry Potter books and I feel bad about it.

“Sirius, swear list,” Remus handed it to his friend.

Sirius took it and looked it over for a second. He grinned, “I'm gonna dance my way to class!”

Remus sighed, “Why did we think that was a good idea? How is someone even supposed to do that?”

“Remus have you ever danced before?” Sirius asked.

Remus shook his head, “No.”

Sirius looked at James, “It's not against the rules to dance together is it?”

James shook his head, “We can all dance to class if you want.”

Sirius grinned, “Then we'll all dance to class!”

Remus covered his face with his hands and started laughing, “Why?”

“C'mon Remus,” James urged, “It'll be fun.”

Remus sighed, “Fine. Fine. But I'm never doing this again.”

The boys' dancing mostly involved laughing and trying not to step on each other. They did successfully make it to class, laughing and giggling uncontrollably.

“What's funny is that Remus danced the best out of all of us,” Sirius grinned

James nodded.

Peter clapped, “Yay!”

Remus hid his face behind his hands in embarrassment, “I can't believe you guys talked me into that.”

“C'mon Remus,” James laughed, “It was fun!”

That night James sat up and waited for his friends to fall asleep. He rolled over so he was facing the window and stared out at the clear night sky. It wasn't long before Peter's snoring filled the room. About an hour later Sirius fell asleep. James sat up abruptly, “Remus.”

Remus closed the book he'd been reading and stretched, “Yeah.”

“What are we gonna do tomorrow? It's worked for a couple weeks but we're running out of ideas.”

Remus tapped the cover thoughtfully, “Well...we could...plan a big prank? Something that'll take multiple days?”

James nodded, “Okay.” He looked over at where Sirius was sound asleep.

“Remember James, Sirius really doesn't like it when we talk about the holidays so we'll have to come up with some other theme for the prank,” Remus urged.

James nodded, “Yeah. We can start brainstorming tomorrow.”

Remus nodded, “Maybe we could talk Marlene into helping us again?”

James grinned, “Yeah!”

Remus set the book down and put out the candle that provided him with light, “Go to sleep James.”

“Alright.”

The next day the group managed to slog through their classes. The other students spent a lot of their time talking about the holidays. James and Remus did their best to keep Sirius' attention off of what the other students were saying. James got a detention for disrupting class.

The other three sat on their beds in their dormitory waiting for James.

“Sirius?” Peter asked uneasily.

Sirius looked at him, “What?” His voice was short and cold.

Peter swallowed. He remained silent, obviously attempting to word his question in a way that wouldn't upset Sirius. “Are you okay?”

Sirius glared at him, “I'm fine. Why does it matter?”

Peter shrugged and fell silent.

Remus looked from Sirius to Peter and back, “Well, Sirius you've gotten angry lately? Peter's only worried about you. There's no need to glare at him like-”

“I'm not angry!” Sirius yelled. He got to his feet and insisted, “There's no need for you two to worry about me either!”

Peter flinched.

Remus swallowed and curled in on himself slightly, “Alright. You're not angry.” He broke eye contact and instead stared blankly at the bed that Sirius sat on. “We'll stop worrying.”

Sirius flopped back onto his bed with a soft growl. He laid on his stomach and shoved his face into his pillow silently.

James skipped into the room to find his friends all sitting silently on their beds. He sent Remus a questioning look.

Remus shrugged and nodded to where Sirius was lying on his back. He was tracing the edges of the bed frame.

James sat on his bed and grinned, “So, I was thinking, we could do a prank.”

“But there's only a few days until break,” Peter argued.

Remus pressed his lips together, half expecting another outburst from Sirius.

Sirius remained silent and gave no sign that he had even heard Peter.

James looked confused, “But that's exactly why we should do it.”

“But then what are we gonna do?” Peter asked.

James shrugged, “I don't know yet. We have to go down to the common room though, cause Marlene's gonna help us.”

Remus got to his feet, “Bring some snacks, Peter.”

“Yep!” Peter nodded enthusiastically. He grabbed an extra snack for Marlene and then handed James and Remus their snacks.

“C'mon Sirius!” James hovered by his friend's bed with an excited grin.

Sirius didn't respond and he didn't move.

Peter held a snack out towards Sirius, “Do you wanna snack?”

“We're planning our holiday prank, Sirius,” James said.

Remus covered his face with his hands. He whispered to James, “We aren't supposed to talk about the holidays remember?”

James bit his lip suddenly and started clenching and unclenching his fists, “Well...you know. We're planning a prank!”

Peter tried offering Sirius a snack again, “Sirius, do you want a snack?”

“No Peter! I'm not hungry! And to be brutally honest I don't want to plan a prank. I don't want to talk about the holidays.” Sirius took the snack and threw it across the room. He got to his feet and stalked towards the door, “I'm sick of doing the same things over and over. I want you all to leave me alone!”

James jogged up to Sirius, “Sirius! I'm sorry. It's my-”

“Shut up, James,” Sirius snarled harshly, “I'm not interested.” The door slammed shut as he left.

Sirius' three friends stared at the closed door.

James hurried up to Peter, “Here, take this.” He left his snack with Peter and raced after Sirius.

“James!” Remus called.

James ignored him.

Marlene watched as Sirius storm past her. He didn't even give her a second look.

James came racing down the stairs, calling after him.

Sirius glanced over his shoulder and bolted out of the common room.

James called after him one more time before racing after him. He apologized to Marlene over his shoulder.

Marlene looked at Lily and Alice in surprise, “What the hell happened?”

Lily shrugged, “I don't think we'll ever know.”

Peter burst into tears, “I thought I was helping.”

Remus jumped and stared at him. He quickly sat down next to Peter, “It's not your fault. Sirius is just upset. James can fix this. Everything will go back to the way it was.”

Peter cried harder, “I'm not wanted am I?!”

“That's not true Peter!” Remus insisted. He took a calming breath, “Do you want me to go with you to talk to Professor Mcgonagall?”

Peter was still for a moment before he nodded.

Remus grabbed James' invisibility cloak, “Try to quiet down, alright, Peter?”

Peter nodded. He desperately tried to calm down. He managed to mellow it all to a quiet sniffling.

Remus threw the invisibility cloak over Peter, “C'mon. Let's go.” He led Peter out of the room and down into the common room.

“Remus!” Marlene called.

“I'll explain later,” Remus promised, “Not now.”

Marlene raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything.

Remus led the way to Mcgonagall's office. He pulled the cloak off of Peter before they entered. He walked in first, “Um...Professor?”

Peter burst into tears again.

Remus flinched.

Mcgonagall was there in an instant. She led Peter to a chair by her desk and looked at Remus, “What happened?”

“Well, Sirius is irritated with the holidays and James and I were doing our best to keep his mind off of it. But today we were trying to plan a thing so that the last few days would be filled with fun. James accidentally said it was for the holidays and Sirius...well...he kind of exploded. James went after him and Peter's upset,” Remus explained.

Mcgonagall nodded, “Thank you Mr. Lupin. Go ahead and go back to the common room.”

Remus nodded. He practically ran back.

“So...what happened?” Marlene asked when he entered.

Remus repeated his explanation before heading up to the room the group shared. He closed the door behind him and stared at the room. It was silent and empty. Remus put James' cloak on his friend's bed. He swallowed and walked to his bed.

James managed to follow Sirius out into the courtyard but lost him there. There were groups of students scattered throughout the courtyard. James approached the closest one, “You haven't seen Sirius have you?”

“He went racing through here not long ago, why? You guys playing another one of your games?”

James grinned and nodded, “Yeah!” He looked nervous suddenly, “Which way did he go?”

“I saw him go that way,” the pointed towards the other side of the courtyard.

James nodded, “Thanks!” He hurried through the courtyard. It wasn't any easier to find Sirius once he got to the other side. He was only slightly discouraged and vowed to scour the entire school if he had to. He wasn't going to leave his friend to be alone.

James literally ran through the halls, ignoring students and professors that he passed. He was going to check inside first and then he would check outside. He stopped, “I could ask the Fat Lady. I'm sure she'll help.” He raced towards the Gryffindor common room, “Fat Lady!”

“Oh look it's you with the glasses,” she laughed.

“I'm looking for Sirius. Can you help me?” James pleaded.

“The Black boy that you're always with?”

James nodded, “Yeah. I don't know where he is and I can't look through the whole castle by myself.”

“Of course I can help. But what about your other friends?”

“Well...Sirius yelled at Peter, and I don't want Remus to think that I'm just friends with him cause he's smart and good at finding things,” James explained.

“Well, alright.” The Fat Lady nodded, “I'll try to help you.”

James grinned, “Thanks!” He raced away.

Sirius ended up outside near to the edge of the Forbidden Forest. H sat down on the ground and pulled his knees up to his chest. He rested his head on his knees. He regretted yelling at them but he didn't know how to apologize. What was he supposed to say to make it up to them? Simply saying sorry didn't seem like it was enough. It didn't seem like it would really make it any better.

“What're you doing down here?”

Sirius looked up in surprise. Hagrid stood over him with a look of gentle concern. Sirius looked away, “Nothing.”

“You're curled up in a ball. That don't look much like nothing.”

Sirius sulked, “It doesn't really matter.”

Hagrid plopped down on the ground next to him, “It doesn't matter, eh?”

“No it doesn't,” Sirius shrugged, “I'll be going back to that house at the end of school anyway. I don't even know why I bothered making friends in the first place.”

“Well, you guys have fun don't ya?” Hagrid sounded like he was confused.

“I...guess, yeah,” Sirius nodded.

“That's important, yeah?”

Sirius nodded again, “Yeah.”

Hagrid nodded, “There you go.”

“None of that matters if all the fun is gonna disappear at the end of the year,” Sirius snapped angrily.

Hagrid looked surprised, “But you're coming back next year aren't ya?”

Sirius was silent for a very long time before finally saying, “Yes.”

Hagrid nodded, “And you four youngsters share a room right?”

Sirius nodded, “Yes.”

“Well then, why wouldn't the fun continue after the holidays? Why won't it continue next year?”

Sirius shrugged, “I don't know.”

“Since you kids, somehow seemed to miss it, students aren't required to go home for the holidays, ya know,” Hagrid said.

Sirius looked surprised and happy, “I...don't have to go home?!”

Hagrid shook his head, “Nah. You can stay here if you like.”

Remus paced back and forth across the room, mumbling to himself. “James will fix it. It'll be okay. Sirius won't stay upset forever. Peter won't stay upset forever. And everything will be fine. It'll go back to normal.” He nodded but continued to pace. He had too much energy to be still but it wasn't a good energy.

“What if James can't fix things?” Remus asked himself quietly, “It's ridiculous...but anything is possible really. And Sirius doesn't forgive easily. But then that's it isn't it? If James can't fix it then everything will fall apart.” He stopped moving and stared out the window. He swallowed the lump that had settled in his throat, “And I'll be all alone again.”

Eventually he sat down on his bed and grabbed the book he'd been reading. His thoughts continued to spin and he couldn't focus on reading. After a couple minutes he set the book back down and curled up under his blanket.

James found Peter and Mcgonagall walking through the hall. He grinned, “Peter!” He hurried up to them, “You're okay right?”

Peter nodded, “Now, yeah.”

James looked relieved, “I'm sorry for shoving the snack back at you. You still have it right?”

Peter nodded, “It's up in the room still.”

James nodded. He looked at Professor Mcgonagall hopefully, “Have you seen Sirius at all?”

Mcgonagall shook her head, “It would probably be better, Mr. Potter, if you gave Mr. Black time to be alone. Take Mr. Pettigrew to your common room. Make sure you are there when curfew hits and you stay there through the night.”

“Yes, Professor,” James nodded. He led Peter to the common room, “So...I haven't found Sirius yet. Maybe if he's not back by morning the three of us will go looking for him.”

Peter nodded. He looked uncertainly at James, “Do you think Sirius is just pretending to like me?”

James looked surprised, “No way! None of us are pretending to like you, Peter. You're awesome.”

Peter grinned, “Okay!”

James smiled.

They entered the common room to find Remus nearly completely buried under his blanket. They could barely see the top of his head. James and Peter exchanged glances.

James shrugged, “We'll just leave him be, I guess.”

Sirius walked in an hour and a half later. He quietly sat down on his bed. He avoided looking Peter or James in the eyes and stared at his feet instead.

“Do you want a snack?” Peter asked after many awkward minutes.

Sirius looked at him and shrugged, “I...guess.”

“Remus is asleep so we'll start planning tomorrow morning,” James suggested.

Peter nodded enthusiastically, “Yeah!”

Sirius nodded, “Okay.”


	18. Confetti Spiders

“Remus,” Sirius sat down on his friend's bed. James was sitting up in his own bed. Peter was snoring loudly.

Remus glanced at Sirius before looking back to his book. He hadn't spoken to any of his friends much for a couple of days.

“Are you mad at me?” Sirius asked.

Remus shook his head.

“What's wrong, Remus?” James asked.

“Nothing,” Remus shook his head again.

“Are you gonna spend the holidays here at Hogwarts with us?” Sirius asked curiously. He had already informed Professor Mcgonagall that he was going to stay. James and Peter had surprised him by saying they were staying too.

Remus shrugged, “I don't know.”

“Remus, Professor Mcgonagall will want to know,” James reminded him.

Remus nodded, “I know. I know.”

“Is it because of whatever Professor Mcgonagall has you doing every month?” Sirius asked.

Remus shook his head, “No.”

“Then what's wrong!” Sirius gently shook Remus. James and Peter had accepted his apology instantly. Remus had just remained quiet on his bed. He hadn't really stopped hanging out with them but he didn't talk as much.

“Nothing,” Remus insisted.

Sirius started whining like a dog. He stared at Remus with big pleading eyes, “What's wrong?”

Remus fought a smile and shook his head again, “Nothing!”

James flopped onto Remus' bed on the other side.

Remus squeaked in surprise. He hadn't noticed James come over.

James started bouncing the bed, “What's wrong?”

“Nothing,” Remus tried to shove James off the bed.

“What's wrong?” James grunted with the effort of trying to stay on the bed.

“Nothing!” Remus stopped trying to shove James and just leaned against the head of his bed. He picked his book back up and started reading.

“Remus!” James wailed.

“James, you're gonna wake up Peter!” Sirius hissed.

James clapped his hand over his mouth. He nodded and whispered, “Right.”

Remus sighed, “Nothing is wrong. I'm fine.”

“You haven't talked to us since Sirius was upset,” James insisted, “And when you don't talk to us, something's usually wrong.”

“I'm fine, James,” Remus insisted.

James and Sirius fixed him with matching doubtful looks.

Remus rolled his eyes, “Really. I'm fine. You two should get back to your own beds.” He managed to lay down, despite James and Sirius taking up a good portion of the bed.

“Remus!” James laid on him, “Something's wrong. You're all melancholic again.”

“Wow, look at you. James Potter actually knows what that word means,” Remus muttered, sarcasm dripping from every word.

James sat up and stared at Remus with his mouth hanging open, “Wow, Remus. Wow.”

“We'll just make sure you're happy and talking again before the holidays,” Sirius promised.

“If you think it's doable, go ahead,” Remus shrugged, “In the mean time, get into your own beds.”

James laid back down on Remus, “Actually I'm pretty comfortable here.” He looked at Sirius, “Right Sirius?”

Sirius laid on Remus too, “You know, for being so skinny you really are quite comfortable.”

“That would probably be because you're lying on my belly. It's generally the least bony part of any person,” Remus snapped.

“No, no.” James shook his head, “Your shoulder is quite comfortable too.”

“Would you two get off?” Remus asked.

James shook his head, “Nah. I'm actually sleepy.”

“What are you guys doing?” Peter's groggy, still half asleep slur interrupted the conversation.

“We're laying on Remus. Come join us,” Sirius invited.

“Okay,” Peter shuffled over and laid on Remus' other shoulder.

Remus sighed, “You guys. There is not enough room on this mattress for four of us.”

“Sure there is. We seem to fit just fine,” Sirius nodded.

“Not comfortably!”

“I'm comfortable,” James insisted.

“Me too,” Sirius agreed.

Peter mumbled something that none of the others quite understood.

“Well, I'm not!” Remus insisted.

“If you want us to get up so you can reposition then just say so,” James said.

“I want you to go back to your own beds,” Remus insisted.

“Nope,” Sirius said.

“You're still all sad.”

“And laying on me is supposed to help?” Remus asked dryly.

“Yep,” Sirius nodded.

“Are you gonna stay with us for the holidays?” James asked.

Remus was silent for a while before sighing, “Sure. I can do that.”

“Yay!”

“Now will you please get off me?”

“Nope.”

Remus rolled his eyes, “Okay, can you get off so I can lay on my side?”

“Sure.” James and Sirius sat up.

Remus gently eased the sleeping Peter off of his shoulder and rolled over onto his side. James put his head back onto Remus' shoulder and Sirius put his head on his ribcage. Remus remained awake for about an hour after Sirius and James had fallen asleep.

Remus woke up at dawn. He was hot. Peter was snoring. James could be drooling, but it might just be sweat. Sirius' chin was digging into his ribs. Remus managed to get James and Sirius off of him without waking either of them up. He decided to take a shower, just in case James had been drooling.

“Remus is gone!” James wailed melodramatically.

“Did he go to class without us?” Peter asked worriedly.

“Do we even have class today?” Sirius asked.

“Yes,” Remus answered from the door. He looked at James, “You're really loud James. I could hear you through the door.”

James started laughing.

Remus shook his head, “Today is our last day of classes though.”

“Have you told Professor Mcgonagall that you're staying here for the holidays?” Sirius asked nervously.

Remus nodded, “Yeah.”

James led the way to their first class of the day.

Most of the students were paying attention in their classes. They were too excited with the upcoming holidays. James and Sirius decided to leave Severus a little holiday gift.

“Hey, Snivellus,” James held out a small brightly colored box with a smile, “Happy Holidays.”

Severus glared at him and didn't take the box.

James sighed, “Well...fine.” He left the box on the corner of Severus' desk and went back to his seat.

After about two minutes the box exploded in multicolored confetti. More than a few students jumped and cursed. The confetti turned into bright glittering spiders that started running at the nearest person. The room quickly devolved into utter chaos. Their classmates were screaming and standing on their chairs. James, Peter, and Sirius were left laughing so hard they couldn't breath. After a couple of minutes the spiders turned back into harmless squares of confetti.

“Potter! Pettigrew! Black!”

“Yes Professor?” James desperately tried to quell his laughter.

“Detention.”

“Yes Professor.” The three of them nodded but spent the rest of class snickering.

The moment they left class the three of them started laughing hysterically again.

Remus shook his head but had a small smile on his face, “You guys are impossible.”


	19. Christmas

“Wake up guys! It's Christmas!” James chanted excitedly.

The sun had yet to even begin to rise.

“James, what time is it?” Sirius mumbled.

“I have no idea,” James shrugged, “But if it helps at all the sun isn't up.”

“James,” Remus groaned. He rolled over and buried his face under his blanket, “Wait another couple hours then.”

“Remus, you barely slept anyway!” James stuck his tongue out.

“You didn't sleep at all, did you?”

“Of course not! It's Christmas!” James grinned. He start skipping around the room, “I waited to open my presents though so that we could all open them together! Like a family!” His eyes glittered mischief, “I stashed them though, so you're gonna have to find them!”

Peter sat up and threw off his blankets excitedly, “We've got presents to open, you guys!”

Remus sighed.

Sirius was already getting up.

James led his friends down into the common room, “Now you guys have to find your presents! They're here in this room and they have your names on them!” He sat down on one of the comfy armchairs by the fire and watched his friends wander around the common room. He grinned excitedly the entire time. He had stacked his own presents in front of the chair he was currently sitting in.

His friends wandered throughout the room. It was relatively easy to find the majority of the presents but the smaller ones were more challenging.

At the end of it all Remus and Peter had seven presents from James' parents as well as the presents from their own families. Sirius had a letter from his parents and eight presents from James' parents.

Peter stared at his presents in shock, “There's so many.”

“Is it a lot of presents?” James asked in surprise.

Peter nodded, his eyes wide in awe, “I've never gotten this many presents before.”

James' jaw dropped, “What do you do on Christmas then?” He sounded confused and a little horrified.

“Well, I still get presents,” Peter stammered, “Just not this many.”

“Oh,” James shrugged, “Well, you're welcome!”

“Just how many presents did you ask your parents to get us?” Remus asked. He had sat on the chair opposite James while James was talking to Peter. His gaze flitted from James to his own presents and back again.

“Well, I just gave them a list of things you guys seemed to like. I'm assuming they got stuff from that list. Probably not the whole list though,” James shrugged.

“Do you always get this many presents?” Sirius asked.

James shrugged, “Well...I do tend to get a lot. But I wanted you guys to get some too.”

“So you normally get around 30 presents?” Remus asked.

James laughed and shook his head, “No. No. No. I don't get nearly that many. I usually get closer to ten or fifteen. But this year I have six so that you guys can have more presents.” He leaned forward, “Open them! I wanna see!”

James and Sirius both got their own broomsticks. Remus got an oversized and comfortable sweater and more than a few books. A couple of them he had read before but that was alright. Peter got a large box with different compartments for his snack stash. Inside the box were ten chocolate frogs. He also got a book filled with recipes for delicious looking sweets. Sirius got a stuffed lion that was half his size and had eyes that changed colors. All four of them got matching pins that had an M on it that changed color depending on the amount of light that hit it and what color that light was.

“What's with the M?” Remus asked curiously.

“Well,” James looked sheepish, “I told my parents we had a name for our friend group.”

“What are we called then?!” Sirius asked excitedly.

“The Marauders,” James answered.

Sirius grinned, “That's awesome!”

James nodded, “Yeah!”

“Marauders, huh?” Remus shrugged.

“Aren't marauders violent?” Peter asked in confusion.

“That doesn't mean we have to be,” James explained, “It's just a cool sounding name.”

“And we do raid the kitchens,” Remus added with a slight smirk.

“Oh, okay,” Peter nodded.

Sirius grinned, “So it fits!”

“Yeah!” James laughed.

The three of them continued opening presents. James' mother had made something for each of them. They also got a letter that described what magic allowed everything could do. James had a winter hat that had a roaring lion embroidered onto it. The lion also yawned and slept but so far they had only seen it roar. Sirius got a pair of red and gold gloves that when up to his elbows. They looked somewhat feminine but Sirius loved them. The gold part swirled around like it was liquid and could even take on shapes at command, including a lion and the sun. Remus had gotten a golden scarf that could store heat and would gently release the stored heat on command. James had assumed that Remus got cold easily because he wore sweaters a lot, no matter the temperature outside. Peter got a big comfortable blanket that could take the form of a robe, cloak, or coat if the blanket form was inconvenient.

At about ten in the morning James and Sirius took their broomsticks outside to fly in the cold winter air. A thick layer of snow covered the ground. There were clouds in the sky but they were light and wispy. The sun shone but didn't grant much warmth.

“I'll race you, Sirius!” James called.

“You're on!” Sirius grinned.

“Be careful guys,” Peter urged. He hugged his recipe book close to his chest, worry plain on his face. He was wearing the blanket as a coat.

Remus brushed the snow off one of the benches and sat down. He looked up at where James and Sirius were circling around the courtyard and shook his head. “Peter, come sit. We can still watch them from here.”

Peter sat down next to him. He started flipping through the book, “I wonder if the house elves would let us make any of these.”

“Probably, if we ask nicely,” Remus nodded. He had brought one of his own books with him, as well as the golden scarf he'd gotten from James' mother.

James and Sirius were proudly wearing their hat and gloves respectively. After about eight laps around the courtyard the two of them came back down to where Remus and Peter were looking through Peter's recipes. Remus' book sat forgotten on his lap.

James beamed, “Do you like the book, Peter?”

Peter nodded, “All of these sound really good! Remus said we could ask the house elves if they would let us make something out of it.”

“That should be fun!” Sirius grinned.

“We could add it to our Swear List,” Remus suggested, “They can choose to help us make something out of this book.”

James grinned, “That would be loads of fun!”

Sirius and Peter nodded.

Remus noted it down in his notepad, “These are gonna be full by the end of the year.”

James nodded, “That was the goal.”

“You couldn't fill four notepads on your own?” Peter asked.

James shook his head, “No way.”

Sirius grinned, “But the four of us can!”

“Yeah!” James punched into the air. Sirius and Peter copied him and called in unison, “Yeah!”

Remus halfheartedly lifted his arm, “Yeah.” He tried, and failed, not to laugh at the matching disappointed looks his friends gave him.

“C'mon Remus! You gotta be enthusiastic!” Sirius grabbed Remus's arm and held it up into the air, “Yeah!”

“Here, let's try again,” James suggested. He punched into the air. Sirius and Peter followed and Sirius used his other hand to lift Remus' arm into the air. Remus started laughing. In unison the four of them called out, “Yeah!”

“So, shall we try our hands at making one of these?” Remus motioned to Peter's book.

James and Sirius nodded excitedly.

James grinned, “I've never actually cooked before! This should be fun!”

“Cooking can't be that hard,” Sirius insisted.

Remus and Peter exchanged worried glances.

Remus swallowed, “Maybe we should ask the house elves for help.”

“Is it hard?!” Sirius squeaked in terror.

Peter looked uncertain, “Well, I've only watched my mom cook. It's not...hard really. It's just...not really that easy?”

Remus nodded, “Yeah. It's not easy.”

Sirius and James gulped audibly.

James led the way to the kitchens, “So, Remus have you cooked before?”

Remus shook his head, “Not really. I've made sandwiches and a few other really simple things. I know how to boil water and I can at least measure out ingredients. Mom does most of the cooking.”

“Ingredients have to be measured?” Sirius asked in confusion.

“We'll definitely need to ask the house elves for help,” Remus muttered.

“Is making a sandwich hard?” James asked.

Remus shook his head, “No.”

“I help my mom cook!” Peter declared proudly, “I'll gather things for her and watch her so that one day I'll be able to do it myself! It's a lot of fun!”

James clapped loudly, “That's awesome!”

“That certainly explains your love for food,” Remus chuckled.

Peter beamed. He looked confused suddenly, “But I've never really talked about liking cooking.” He looked at James, “How'd you know?”

James shook his head, “I didn't. I just told Mom you liked food.”

“Your parents are really nice,” Sirius whispered.

James smiled, “Well, you can come meet them over the summer if you want. I'm sure they won't mind. It would be fun to have friends over!” He gasped. His eyes sparkled with a brand new idea he was going to drag his friends into, whether they liked it or not. “You know what we could do! We could spend next year's holidays at my house! That way you guys can meet them and they can meet you! And then we can get presents for each other without the others knowing! Mom and Dad are great at keeping secrets like that!”

Peter grinned excitedly.

Remus nodded slowly, “That would be lots of fun.”

Sirius was grinning from ear to ear, “That would be great. It would be like we really are a family!”

James nodded, “Yeah!”

“Yeah!” The other three echoed.


	20. Chapter 20

The four boys stood sheepishly, though also trying not to laugh, in the middle of the kitchen. Their first forays into baking a cake had ended in disaster. There was flour everywhere, milk and eggs were spilled on the flour. The counter had some batter dried onto it. The oven had lit on fire while the cake was cooking. A pan full of char was sitting on another counter. The sink was having a difficult time washing the dishes they had used to make the cake.

Mcgonagall watched them over her spectacles. Her face was painted with the usual expression of mixed exasperation, amusement and severe disapproval. The boys were more than used to being looked at like that by now.

“The four of you will clean this place up,” Mcgonagall ordered firmly, “And next time you wish to attempt one of those recipes let myself or another Professor know so that we may supervise you. Is that understood?” She told the house elves to find something else to do until the boys were done.

“Yes Professor,” they all nodded.

Mcgonagall sighed before turning around and striding away.

They quickly devolved into giggling.

About halfway through their cleaning James started to grin. He ran his hands under water and then wiped his hands down Peter's arm.

Peter squawked. He dipped his hands into water and flicked it at James.

Sirius ran his wet hands down the sides of Peter's face from behind, cackling.

Peter shrieked, “No fair!”

“Don't worry Peter,” Remus dumped a bucket of clean water down Sirius' back.

Sirius cursed, “That's cold!”

Peter laughed.

James took large mixing bowl out of one of the cabinets and filled it with water. He used the bowl to threw the water in Remus' general direction.

Remus jumped back but the lower three quarters of his body was still soaked.

Sirius wrestled Peter to the ground and ruffled his hair with wet hands.

When Professor Mcgonagall came back to check on them she found the boys in a bigger mess than when she had left them. James and Remus were wrestling and hadn't noticed her. Peter and Sirius were sitting next to each other slapping at each other's hands and whining. They also had yet to notice her. She shook her head, “What are you four doing?”

They were instantly still and silent.

“Um...cleaning?” James suggested weakly.

They all clambered quickly to their feet, sliding around in the process.

Mcgonagall raised an eyebrow, “Are you really cleaning, Mr. Potter? Because this kitchen is more of a mess now than when I left last.”

“Well, Professor,” Sirius stood up and pointed to the counters and the oven, “The counters are clean. And we even cleaned the ovens!”

“And the floor is now a tripping hazard, Mr. Black,” Mcgonagall pointed out.

All four boys started trying not to laugh again.

“As I recall I told you four to clean the mess that you had made. That does not usually translate to flooding the kitchen.”

James and Sirius started laughing.

Remus sighed.

Peter was still barely managing to keep from laughing.

Mcgonagall walked over to stand next to the entrance, “Since it is apparent that you cannot clean up a mess without making a bigger one I will supervise you while clean this up.”

The four of them nodded.

They giggled almost constantly as they dried the floor and counters and finished cleaning the dishes they had used.

Mcgonagall nodded in approval once they were finished, “Return to your common room and clean yourselves up.”

“Yes, Professor.” The four of them left.

“That was fun,” James laughed.

“Yeah!” Sirius jumped onto Remus' back without warning.

Remus grunted and took a step forward. He caught Sirius and sighed, “Sirius, why exactly am I carrying you?”

“Because I was wondering if you would fall over.”

Remus promptly dropped him.

Sirius squeaked and started laughing.

“You must have really good balance,” Peter commented.

Remus shrugged, “I guess. I don't know.”

“I'll try this time!” James jumped up onto Remus' back.

Remus barely stumbled and caught him the same way he did Sirius. He also promptly dropped James the same way he had Sirius.

James was amazed, “Can you carry me to the common room?!”

“Maybe,” Remus sounded uncertain.

James jumped onto his back again.

Remus sighed in resignation.

“That's not fair!” Sirius cried in fake distress, “Why does James get to be carried but I don't?!”

“I'll carry you another time,” Remus promised.

Sirius grinned, “Okay.”

Peter pouted but didn't say anything.

“Same for you, Peter,” Remus said.

Peter beamed, “Really?!”

Remus nodded, “Yes.”

Remus carried James all the way to Gryffindor Tower, despite all the stairs. And he chatted with his friends normally, like it took no effort. He dropped James in front of the Fat Lady.

James skipped around, “That was awesome! I didn't know you were that strong!”

Remus shrugged again, looking somewhat uncomfortable, “Well...I don't know.”

“What are we gonna do for the rest of the year?” James whined as they entered the common room.

“We'll come up with something,” Remus shrugged.

James complained throughout most of the day when classes started back up. He also declared that he was going to have a castle of his own, that way he could have all the fun he had during the holidays all the time. He told nearly the entire school that only his friends could stay in the castle with him but that anyone he liked could visit for a cup of tea and an afternoon of fun. He went on and on for days about the different activities they could do in his castle. He also insisted on having a pet lion.

“It'll be awesome! We'll have a castle just like this one! With a lion!” James talked excitedly in front of the fire in the common room.

“James, you're starting to repeat yourself,” Alice said dryly. She shot a partially annoyed glance at Lily and Marlene. Marlene snickered.

James pouted, “I am not!”

“You've done nothing but talk about the lion you don't have since the holidays,” Alice said.

“We're going to have a lion! Just you watch! He'll be magnificent and regal! His mane-”

“Will shine like gold in the light of the sun,” Alice finished. She sighed, “You. Are. Repeating yourself.”

“What are we gonna name him?” Sirius asked curiously.

“Uh,” James stared at him dumbly, “I have no idea.”

Remus looked up from his book, “Sol.”

“So...ul?” James, Sirius, and Peter looked at him in confusion.

Remus chuckled, “S. O. L. It means sun in Spanish.”

“Cool!” James turned triumphantly to Alice, “His name is Sol!”

Alice sighed, “Yay. You're currently non-existent lion has a name now.”

“We're going to have a lion,” Sirius and James insisted in unison.

“I'm not saying you aren't going to. I'm just saying you don't have one now, yet you're talking like you do.”

“So?” James asked.

“How exactly are we going to get a lion? And a castle?” Peter asked.

“I can ask Mom and Dad,” James shrugged, completely unconcerned.

Remus glanced up from his book to stare at James for a moment before going back to it.

“And they'll just buy you a castle and a lion?” Peter squeaked.

James nodded, “Yeah. I don't see any reason why they wouldn't. When I'm old enough to take care of a lion and to justify owning a castle, anyway.”

Alice rolled her eyes and walked away.

“So you have to be old enough?” Peter asked.

James nodded, “Yeah! And then the four of us can live in our castle forever, without having to worry about a thing!”

Sirius and Peter nodded in excitement. Remus pretended like he was too focused on reading to have heard them.

“Remus, you okay?” Sirius asked.

Remus looked up in surprise, “Huh? Yeah. I'm just reading.”

“You do want to live in our castle with us right?” Peter sounded worried.

Remus smiled, “Of course!”

“And we can play and run around and have fun all the time!” James grinned.

Remus shrugged, “That might be an unrealistic expectation.”

“What do you mean?” Sirius asked.

“Well,” Remus answered quickly, “Being an adult comes with it's own set of challenges, you know. And we don't even know what those are. All I'm saying is we probably won't be able to play and have fun all of the time.”

James, Sirius and Peter glanced at each other.

James nodded slowly, “True.” He grinned, “But we're unbeatable as long as we're together, yeah?”

“Yeah!” The other three responded.

“Why a lion out of curiosity?” Remus asked.

“Because they're pretty!” Peter said.

“And majestic!” James added.

“And we're Gryffindors,” Sirius said with the flattest tone ever. His face was completely blank.

James started laughing. Peter and Sirius quickly joined in. Remus joined last.


End file.
